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

Milos Raonic at the Barcelona Open – Update – Day 1

Update, 19 Apr, AM:

Qualifier Simon Greul (GER) defeated Robert Kendrick (USA) in their opening match, so if Milos is successful this afternoon vs. Stepanek (CZE), his second round match will be vs. Simon Greul.  The match previous to Raonic's first round match (Lopez (ESP) vs. Kukushkin (KAZ)) is part-way through the 3rd set, so I expect Raonic vs. Stepanek to start not before 12 pm (noon) Eastern Time, today, 19 Apr.

Doubles

Milos Raonic (CAN) and Nico Almagro (ESP) lost in the first doubles match of the tournament against Malisse (BLR) and Dolgopolov (UKR) this morning.  Raonic and Almagro were able to get 64% of their first serves in, while their opponents only made 43%, but unfortunately for the Spanish/Canadian duo, they were only able to win 58% and 45% of their first and second serve points respectively compared with 85% and 73% for Dolgo and Malisse.  Similar disparity was observed in 1st and 2nd return points won, and in total service and return points won.  The match was not available to watch anywhere on the internet that I could find, so I was not able to watch to see how it was thst Milos and Nico were being outplayed - but according to the stats, they were.

Singles

Milos will be playing his opening round match against Radek Stepanek (CZE) tomorrow, on Court 1, in the 4th of 5 matches to be played there starting at 10:30 am CEST (or 4:30 am Eastern).  According to Sportsnet.ca's schedule their broadcasting doesn't start until the round of 16 on 21 April - so we will need to check to see if it's streaming on sportsnet.ca or otherwise available online to watch since it apparently won't be on TV in Canada.  Assuming 1.5 hrs per match:

Milos Raonic (CAN) vs. Radek Stepanek (CZE) no earlier than 9 am Eastern Time, 19 April on Court 1 at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell

-- wacb