Milos Raonic – Canada Fan Blog an (unofficial) blog about tennis and Canadian player Milos Raonic

Raonic eliminated from Sony Ericsson Open

THE RESULT

Milos Raonic lost his second round match in Miami versus Samdev Devvarman (IND) in straight sets. The scoreline, in Devvarman's favour, was 7-6(5), 7-5. This was Raonic's first match at the Sony Ericsson Open, having received a first round bye for being seeded No.31 in the main draw. After losing in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open, this marks another early exit for the young Canadian in the first two ATP 1000 Masters series events of the year.

THE MATCH

Devvarman broke Raonic to start the match, and held a two-break lead while serving for first set at 5-2. Just when it was looking like a complete blowout, Raonic won 4 games in a row before Devvarman held at 5-6 to take the set to a tiebreak. Again, Milos fell behind a few mini-breaks almost immediately and had to fight his way back on serve. He was unable to complete the comeback however, losing the tiebreak 7-5.

It was Raonic who got the first break in the second set, finally converting on his fifth break chance opportunity in Devvarman's second service game. Raonic held on to the lead for a few games, but Devvarman would eventually get the break back to level the set at 4-4. As Milos was serving to force another tiebreak, he got down 15-40 in a hurry and wasn't able to serve his way out of it. Devvarman needed just one of his 2 break chances to secure the second set (and ultimately, the match) with a score of 7-5.

THE STATS

While Raonic was able to bring his ace count up as the match progressed (hitting 12 in total), his overall first serve % hovered around 50 and rarely improved beyond that mark. Milos also racked up 7 double faults, which often proved to be the turning point in some of his service games. Another key stat in the match was the number of break points saved: Raonic saved just 1 of 5 break points on his serve, while Devvarman was able to save 5 of 8 on his. Devvarman was able to capitalize on his chances much more effectively than Raonic, making it difficult for Milos to sustain any kind of momentum during the match. Here are the complete stats:

Obviously, it's disappointing that Milos Raonic is out of the tournament -- but I'll still be watching when TV coverage starts up tomorrow on Rogers Sportsnet One at 11 AM ET. It seems like forever since the win in San Jose and the finals in Memphis, I'm just anxious to see Milos make a deep run at an ATP 1000 Masters event. There's always the clay court season...

-mutli