Raonic through to 3rd Round in Barcelona
Milos Raonic defeated Simon Greul (GER) in a close three set match, 6-3 4-6 7-6(5). Milos took the first set decisively, but the match ended up going the distance after Greul began to mount a comeback late in the second.
Greul came out firing. Serving to open the match, he landed all of his first serves in and won those points to hold at love. Raonic's start was a little shaky, allowing Greul to take a 0-40 lead right away. All told, Milos had to save four break points in his opening service game just to hold for 1-1. Holding soon became a much easier task for Raonic after he started hitting some aces and more first serves. Midway through the set, Greul's serve dropped off just enough for Milos to get the first break of the match. After consolidating the break, Raonic broke Greul's serve again to win the set 6-3 in just under 30 minutes.
This time to open the second set, it was Raonic who had a perfect service game winning all four points on his first serve for a love hold. Approaching the halfway mark of the set, Greul and Raonic traded service breaks to even things up at 3-3. Down 3-4, Greul then won three straight games to force a deciding third set. As a note, Raonic hit just 1 ace during the second set compared to the 6 he blasted in the first.
There would be no flawless service game by Milos to start the third. The first serve was decent enough, but Raonic had to save a break point before holding. It wasn't smooth sailing for Greul either, who had to save two break points to keep from falling behind. The rest of the set was fairly close, and required a tiebreaker to settle the match. Raonic was able to edge out Greul in the tiebreak to earn a spot in the next round.
Raonic will face Ivan Dodig (CRO) in the third round of the Barcelona Open Banc Sadabell, who upset No.3 seed Robin Söderling earlier today. They have yet to meet at the ATP tour level. Their match is currently set to be last on Pista Central tomorrow, but that may change. Sportsnet One will begin showing live coverage of the tournament starting at 7:30AM ET tomorrow morning, and will be streamed online as well.
Good luck in the Round of 16, Milos!
-multi
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April 20th, 2011 - 19:56
I find Milos has trouble with players that have beat him from the past, mentally. I think if he can get past Ivan he will face nadal, and well lose there.
April 20th, 2011 - 19:53
It was for Milos not so easy to defeat the “old” Greul (ATP 125), but he did. I have “seen” the match by the live scores and at the tiebreak the live score of the match did’nt work and I had to wait about 20 minutes of fear to have the result and I was very happy that was Milos the winner.