Raonic def. Stepanek in Barcelona « Milos Raonic

19Apr/11Off

Raonic def. Stepanek in Barcelona

Milos Raonic defeated Radek Stepanek (CZE) today in straight sets, 6-4 6-2. With the win, Raonic advances to the second round of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

Things were looking good for Milos early in the match. With Stepanek struggling to win points off his second serve, Raonic got the early break. Despite a low 1st serve %, Raonic was near perfect on 1st serve points winning 11/12. The lone break would be enough for Milos to win the set comfortably, not having to face a single break point along the way.

Just like in the first, Raonic didn't waste any time taking the lead in the second set. Milos backed up the early break by raising his 1st serve % and hitting a few aces. Stepanek still wasn't able to challenge Raonic's serve, and was having all kinds of trouble holding his own. Milos broke Radek for the second time to open up the lead to 5-2, and promptly served out the match with relative ease.

This was a solid performance by Milos, who was clearly dominant on his serve. It must be the new haircut. Next up for Milos is Simon Greul of Germany. The two have met only once before in Johannesburg earlier this year, where Greul won the match in straight sets. But if Milos can continue to serve as well as he did today, then I like his chances to even up the head-to-head record. Their match will be last on Court 1 tomorrow, which should be sometime early in the afternoon here on the east coast of Canada.

-multi