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

Raonic through to 2nd Round in Shanghai

In the first round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, Milos Raonic defeated Michael Llodra (FRA) for the third time this year, 6-7(2) 6-2 7-6(5). Raonic will face David Ferrer (ESP) in the next round tomorrow.

Raonic rallied after losing the first set in a tiebreak to defeat Michael Llodra in Shanghai today. There were no breaks of serve in the first set, though Raonic had to save 3 break points just to stay with Llodra. The Frenchman won 91% of his first serve points during the set, preventing Raonic from earning any break chances against him.

Things began to pick up for Milos in the second, breaking his opponent twice while remaining steady on his serve. Each player was broken once in the third, and a tiebreak was needed to decide the match. Raonic edged out Llodra in the breaker who had as many double faults (5) in the third set as Raonic had aces.

Next up for Raonic is the No.3 seed David Ferrer. If you remember back at the Australian Open, it was Ferrer who ended Raonic's run at the first major of the year in the Round of 16. That match required four sets, but Ferrer easily dispatched Raonic again in straight sets at Monte Carlo just a few months later. Obviously it'll be another tough test for Milos as he assesses his progress on the comeback trail.

EDIT: There has been some slight confusion as to whether Sportsnet will show live coverage of the Raonic vs. Ferrer match. As of right now, it appears that it will be shown on tape delay as per usual. Sportsnet tweeted that they will post the time that his match will air on Wednesday -- so be sure to follow their twitter feed for updates.

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Raonic out of Rakuten Japan Open

For the second year in a row, Rafael Nadal defeated Milos Raonic in the second round of the Rakuten Japan Open in straight sets, 7-5 6-3.

The first set was quite close, with Raonic serving extremely well. The serve was always going to be the key to the match for Raonic, especially against Rafa who has a greater chance of winning the points as the rallies become longer. The danger with this strategy is that it only takes a slight lapse in concentration to give Rafa a chance to do some damage. Milos did well to keep the majority of the points short on his serve and was able to keep Nadal at bay, albeit only temporarily. As is often the case with the best players in the world, Rafa was able to raise his level of play just as Raonic let up slightly while serving at 5-6. Nadal converted the first and only break point chance of the first set the snatch the set away before getting into a tiebreak.

From there, Raonic began to show signs of frustration. The forehand wasn't as consistent as it needed to be, and the few times he came to the net left something to be desired. Nadal only needed one break point to take the lead in the second, and continued to hold relatively comfortably to win the match. Raonic didn't earn a single break chance against Nadal, and was only able to get to deuce once on Rafa's serve.

The match wasn't a walkover by any means, and Raonic did have some looks against Nadal. After the match, Nadal said that Raonic's serve was "impressive, especially at the beginning of the match." Unfortunately, the sharpness and match readiness in the other aspects of his game just weren't there for Raonic. That will come back with time.

Luckily, we won't have to wait long to see Raonic in action again because the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai is coming up next week. According to their schedule, Sportsnet ONE will begin coverage of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Monday, October 10 at 9AM ET. Hopefully Roanic will have a slightly more forgiving draw in Shanghai. Running up against Nadal in the second round of your first tournament back isn't exactly the easiest way to build some momentum after returning from injury.

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Raonic Begins Comeback With A Win

Milos Raonic, in his first ATP Tour match since June, defeated Yuichi Sugita (JPN) in the first round of the Rakuten Japan Open, 6(4)-7 6-3 7-6(1).

This match did not appear to be streamed live anywhere online, so we were left with watching the live scores ticker to get an idea of how the match was playing out. Raonic seemed to have the edge early on, earning the first break of the match to go up 3-2 on his serve in the first. Sugita would immediately break back and take the set to a tiebreak. The Japanese wildcard jumped out to an early lead and eventually put the first set away.

Raonic would register the only break of serve in the second set converting a lone break point, later having to save one himself to maintain the lead. The third set was close. Raonic served extremely well in the final set, notching 7 aces and hitting 83% of his first serves. Neither player was able to earn a break chance, resulting in the set having to be decided in a tiebreak. Raonic dominated the breaker, emphatically closing out the match by nearly shutting Sugita out of the tiebreak.

One thing we can say for sure about the match is that Raonic was generally serving well. The first serve dipped slightly in the second, but he still managed to win that set by a single break. Raonic also a racked up a total of 16 aces, a promising sign on a hardcourt. Perhaps the key takeaway from this match is that Milos was able to rally from a set down to win in three sets. Compare this to his Davis Cup loss to Amir Weintraub where Raonic won the first set, only to lose the following three. It's hard to make a direct comparison between these matches since I wasn't able to watch the match with Sugita live, but it could be an indication that Raonic may have tried to come back a little too quickly for Davis Cup. Raonic says he's looking "forward to [the] challenge" of playing Nadal, and that it should be a good test for how the comeback is progressing.

The biggest comeback obstacle for Raonic is his opponent in the Round of 16: Rafael Nadal. We saw this coming when we first had a look at the draw, provided Milos was able to get through his first round match. Rafa had an easy time in his opener winning 6-3 6-2 over Go Soeda, another Japanese wildcard. Raonic vs Nadal: Tokyo Showdown - Part Deux will be played on Thursday, or more accurately, "tomorrow night" if you're in North America. Here is the order of play for "today".

We may have more luck watching the second round match, since there should be coverage streaming online by then. The only problem is accounting for the time zone difference. I wasn't able to stay up to "watch" the end of the match on live score ticker last night, and Raonic was first on court! It should be easier to get up for a match with actual video. It isn't very often you get to see Raonic take on the likes of Rafa Nadal.

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