Milos Raonic defeated by Ryan Harrison at Indian Wells, California
Harrison Earns the right to play against Roger Federer
I just watched the best match of the BNP Paribas Open thus far. Milos Raonic's run at Indian Wells has ended but not from lack of effort. The young Canadian faced an even younger American who has been playing very well at Indian Wells... but he stepped it up a notch this time.
In the first set both players held their serve through to the tie-break, at which time Ryan Harrison stepped it up and won the tie-break handily. The second set was the same until the end, where Raonic broke Harrison in the 10th game to win 6-4. In his service game to start the next set though, he was broken by Harrison who consolidated in his next game. Harrison would break Raonic again before Raonic got one of them back with great rallies and excellent winners from both sides. The thrilling end came on an ace from Harrison - putting an end to a suspenseful set which, near its end, showcased very high level tennis by two young players showing the promise of good North American rivalry down the road.
UNCREDIBLE!
-- WACB
National Post Article (the first big news network to post an article about the match)
A Day to Recover
Similar to the Major tournaments, players at the BNP Paribas Open have a day off between matches. In this article, Milos Raonic does not shy away from saying he could really use the extra day to recover before his next match:
Canadian Milos Raonic, the breakout star from the first two months of the 2011 season, took advantage of his opportunities to knock out 2008 finalist and World No. 15 Mardy Fish 7-5, 6-4. He fought off eight break points, including three in the final game, and capitalized on all three of his chances.
The 20 year old, who received treatment for a back muscle spasm during the match, said: “I'm hungry for the wins. I want to win as much as possible. I want to reach new limits. I want to keep improving. By winning today, especially here with a day in between, it's a good thing. I have a chance to recover fully and sort of treat and now come back in two days sort of hoping to play better, hoping to serve better, and hoping to feel better.”
Raonic defeated a Top 25 player for the sixth time this season, including four Top 15 wins. He also beat a 17th-ranked Fish last month in the Memphis semi-finals.
Hopefully the back muscle spasm won't be a lingering problem and Raonic will be able to recover enough to get his serve back on track. The serve was less of a weapon against Fish last night, who was able to earn 8 break points during the match. Raonic saved them all, but if Fish had been able to convert one or two the match may not have gone Raonic's way.
In his post match interview on court, Milos was asked if he was surprised by all of his recent success. He succinctly answered, "Yes" - at which point the audience erupted in laughter. It was a funny moment, but the short reply suggested that Raonic just wanted to get off the court and start the recovery process before his next match.
Read the full interview here, and check out this Public Service Announcement about Milos Raonic, in song form.
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Raonic def. Fish
It took just over two hours for Milos Raonic to defeat Mardy Fish in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. The stats for Raonic's serve were not as great as we've been used to seeing lately, but they were good enough to get the job done. He seemed to come up with aces and forced errors on the return when he really needed them. The key statistic for the match, however, wasn't the first serve % or number of aces - it was the number of break points converted. Mardy Fish was unable to convert any of the 8 break points he earned on Raonic's serve. Milos, on the other hand, was a perfect 2/2 on break chances, which was all he needed to win the match. Here are the complete stats:
First Set
Raonic faced a tough service game at 1-2 in the first set which lasted over 12 minutes. With Fish about to serve at 4-4, Raonic called for the trainer. After a quick assessment, Milos took a medical timeout so the trainer could work on his abdomen and lower back. This was obviously a tense moment for fans of Milos, since it was impossible to know the extent of the injury and how it would affect his play following the treatment.
Immediately following the medical timeout, Raonic found himself down 0-30 on his serve and had to save a break point before holding to level the score at 5-5. In the next game, Fish missed two drop shot attempts in a row to give Raonic the first break of the match. Serving at 6-5, Raonic came up with some timely winners and big second serves to hold at love and take the first set.
Second Set
Fish managed to work his way into several of Raonic's service games early in the second set. When he failed to convert a break point at 2-3, Fish smashed his racquet in frustration. On the next point, Raonic was in obvious physical distress after hitting a passing shot down the line for a winner. It was clear that Milos needed the match to be over as soon as possible.
In the timely fashion that appears to be part of Milos' modus operandi, he broke Fish in the next game to take a 4-3 lead. It wasn't smooth sailing from here on out, though. Fish was still able to earn yet another break point against Raonic, which he failed to convert. While trying to serve out the match, Milos found himself down 15-40 in a hurry. Fish refused to go away. But Raonic elevated his game at just the right time to fight his way back to deuce. He did this by coming in behind some big first serves and forcing Fish to make difficult returns. The strategy worked.
Up Next
Raonic advances to the 3rd round to face Ryan Harrison. The young American is another player currently making a breakthrough of his own at Indian Wells. Their match will likely be on Tuesday, March 15.
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Raonic out of doubles, plays Fish tonight
Raonic and his doubles team mate Feliciano Lopez must have felt they were a little unlucky when they saw who they were matched up against in the first round of doubles at Indian Wells. They were defeated by the No.1 seeded Bryan brothers in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. Despite earning 11 aces in the match, they weren't able to serve as cleanly as the Bryan brothers who had a higher first serve % and won more points on their first serve. Here are the stats from the match:
According to the schedule of play, Milos will be playing later this evening on Stadium 2. His match with No.13 seed Mardy Fish (USA) will be the lead in to a big doubles matchup between Rafael Nadal / Marc Lopez vs. Marin Cilic / Ivo Karlovic. Hopefully the Raonic vs. Fish match will be streamed somewhere online.
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On the BNP Paribas Open debut win
In this article from the BNP Paribas Open website, Milos Raonic discusses his first ATP 1000 win in his Indian Wells debut:
“It’s been two weeks since I played a tournament, so I was happy to be back feeling like I'm playing a lot better,” said Raonic, who has won 11 of his past 12 matches. “I didn't serve that well today, but I feel compared to Memphis and San Jose I'm playing another level from the baseline. I feel like it just gives me a lot more comfort that I'm improving that aspect.”
This echoes my assessment of the match today, which was based solely on the statistics from the live score ticker. It would have been nice to actually watch it, though. But at least I didn't miss a brilliant performance serve-wise.
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Raonic def. Ilhan
Milos Raonic defeated Marsel Ilhan (TUR) in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(4). Raonic ran away with the first set, and was up by a break in the second before Ilhan broke back late in the set to force a tiebreak. Here are the match stats:
Having only the live scores ticker to go by, it's hard to get an impression of how some of the rallies and games played out. But judging by the numbers, Raonic was fairly dominant on his serve and was able to work his way into several of his opponent's service games. While Milos won a healthy majority of his first serve points (100% for the first set), getting those serves in was a bit of an issue. The ace count for the match was also a bit low, with 6 of the total 10 coming in the first set.
Those numbers will have to come up because the draw for Milos is about to get tough in a hurry. Raonic is set to play Mardy Fish (USA) who, by virtue of being the No.13 seed, has received a bye to the second round.
In other Canadian tennis news, Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) defeated Rebecca Marino in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
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Numbers Game
The Raonic vs. Ilhan match is just getting underway, and this is how I have to "watch" it:
To my knowledge, there is no way to watch this match via the internet or on television, for free or otherwise. Bummer. So as I sit here listening to Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead by Canadian post-rock instrumental band Do Make Say Think, I can't help but feel a little jealous of all the people who are watching this match live in Indian Wells.
But hey, the live score ticker is better than nothing. It's still tennis, but without the drama of seeing the points unfold.
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BNP Parabis Open Preview – Raonic to meet Federer in Round-of-16?
The Draw for Milos
Now that the draws are out for Indian Wells, we see that Milos Raonic is looking at names such as Mardy Fish and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the way before reaching the Round-of-16. The big story, though, is that if he is to make it out of his eighth of the draw and move past the round-of-16, he will need to beat Roger Federer. After that his date for the quarter-finals will probably be Berdych, Wawrinka, or Cilic - after which his semi-final match would almost certainly be Djokovic, who is playing great this year.
Can Milos upset Federer (and cause him to fall to #3 in the rankings)?
In Dubai and at the Australian Open this year Djokovic has defeated Federer. Due to these defeats, Federer is in danger of falling to #3 in the ATP rankings behind Djokovic, who would take #2, and Rafael Nadal. If Djokovic wins the BNP Parabis Open, or just makes it to the final, he will overtake Federer in the rankings. Since Djokovic and Federer are both in the Bottom half of the draw, they would face in the semi-finals if they are to meet at all.
There are some other scenarios that would see Djokovic move ahead of Federer. Even if Djokovic loses in the semi-finals, he can still move ahead of Federer in the rankings as long as Federer loses in the Round-of-16 or before. That all-important round-of-16 match for Federer will more than likely be against Milos Raonic. This cannot be good for Federer, as I'm sure he would not like to be facing the top-server on tour at this critical point. If Milos does eventually move past Federer and his quarter-final match to face Djokovic, the outcome will not matter in terms of the rankings, Djokovic will be #2.
Federer's Result Last Year...
For Federer to go down to Milos in the round-of-16 should not sound unfathomable. He lost in the round-of-32 at Indian Wells last year to Marcos Baghtatis (see those results here).
All of this raises the stakes for Federer and Djokovic (neither of which have met Milos in a ATP match before) and Milos Raonic is "smack-dab" in the middle of this rivalry - I'm excited to watch it play out.
-- WACB
Link to Djokovic / Federer comparison - ATP
Link to Raonic / Djokovic comparison - ATP
Link to Raonic / Federer comparison - ATP
Link to bnpparabisopen.com article about Djokovic / Federer rankings battle
Indian Wells qualifying (last one, I promise)
Canadian Frank Dancevik failed to advance past the second round of qualifying in Indian Wells. Alex Bogomolov Jr (USA) defeated Dancevic in three sets, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Unfortunately, that means the only remaining Canadians in the draw are Milos Raonic and Rebecca Marino. You can view the main draws for the BNP Paribas Open here.
Milos will play Marsel Ilhan (TUR) in the first round, which begins tomorrow. The women's singles event got underway today, but Marino isn't scheduled to play today. Her match against Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) will likely take place tomorrow.
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Indian Wells qualifying (pt.2)
There are more results to report from the qualifying rounds at Indian Wells. First, Rebecca Marino defeated Cetkovska in three sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. With the win, Marino has earned a spot in the main draw -- the first round of which gets underway tomorrow.
On the men's side, Peter Polansky failed to advance in his qualifier today. Bopanna edged out Polansky in a close three set match, 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5. In another three-setter, Frank Dancevic was able to pull out the win over Steve Johnson, 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4). Dancevic will play either Alex Bogomolov (USA) or Stefan Ianni (ITA) in the second round of qualifying tomorrow.
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