Fish def. Raonic 6-1, 6-2 – Tsonga up next for Milos…
Mardy Fish has just defeated Milos Raonic in the first round of the AAMI Classic in Kooyong, Australia. The final score was 6-1, 6-2. I dozed off during the Tsonga match after a long day (had a 6AM flight this morning from Newfoundland) to wake up to Fish's victory speech, where he praised Raonic and said he was going to "make a lot of money out here".
We get a preview of a potential Davis Cup match-up in February in Vancouver as Tsonga will be Raonic's next opponent in the consolidation round. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga also lost today, defeated by Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-3. The wind and conditions on court did not suit Tsonga well. As I was able to watch most of his match, it was evident his high ball toss was affected, as well as his ability to hit the lines precisely. He seemed very frustrated with the up-to-70km/h winds. I imagine Milos suffered similarly with his style of play.
As Roddick starts his serve in the first game of his match versus Monfils with ace as I write, I'm wondering if he can keep that up against the wind... The winner of that match will face Tomic in the semi-final, while the loser will face Berdych in the consolidation round. It seems each of the exhibition matches so far today went opposite to my expectations...
--wacb
AAMI Classic Preview – 6th-seeded Raonic to face Mardy Fish
Milos will be playing in the AAMI Classic this year for the first time. He is seeded 6th ahead of Bernard Tomic and Jurgen Melzer in the field of 8 invited players.
His first round will see him play Mardy Fish for the chance to move on to a semi-final match-up with the winner of Tsonga/Melzer. If he should lose, he will play in the consolidation round against the loser of said match. Of course, Raonic and Fish have some history from last year, where Milos won their two meetings (first in Memphis and then a few weeks later at Indian Wells). Mardy Fish was ranked 17 and 15 respectively during those tournaments, but both players have improved since then as Mardy Fish is now ranked #8 (1 below his career-high #7 ranking achieved last year) and Milos Raonic is ranked at his career high of #25. If Raonic is able to defeat Fish again in Melbourne today, this will be highest ranked player he'll have defeated (though it's not an ATP tournament). Mardy Fish did not play last week in the ATP season opening tournaments.
This warm-up tournament in Kooyong (just outside of Melbourne) is an invitational tournament. Here are the rules as explained at wikipedia.org:
The AAMI Classic draw includes eight invited Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) players, seeded according to the ATP rankings of the week preceding the tournament. Four first round matches are played, after which the four winners advance to the semifinals, while the four losers are relegated to a play-off draw. The two semifinals of the main draw and of the play-off draw are then played, setting four new matches : the main draw final, to decide of the champion and of the runner-up, the main draw consolation match, to decide of the third and fourth places, the play-off draw final, to decide of the fifth and sixth places, and the play-off draw consolation match, to decide of the seventh and eighth places.
The tournament takes place over four days, with the four first round matches taking place on the first day, the two first round matches of the play-off draw, and one semifinal of the main draw taking place on the second day, the final and the consolation match of the play-off draw, and the second semifinal of the main draw taking place on the third day, and the final and the consolation match of the main draw taking place on the fourth and last day.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAMI_Classic#Competition_format
Milos is the third match of the day today, preceded by Tsonga/Melzer, then Tomic/Berdych, and followed by the final match of the day between Monfils and Roddick. All these first-round matches play through in one session, starting at 11AM local time, which is about 1.5 hours ago (7PM Eastern) but play has been suspended due to rain. A quick check of the weather forecast reveals they should expect up to 5mm of rain, possible hail, and wind averaging up to 50 km/h and then settling down to 30 km/h or so toward the evening. It doesn't look like it will be a comfortable day as the video shows things blowing around the court and drizzle.
It looks like play is about to start as Tsonga and Melzer are warming up, so if there's no further interruption in play I figure Milos will take to the court around 11PM Eastern Time or shortly after that. I am looking forward to the Fish/Raonic match given their match record from 2011...
--wacb
Raonic to be seeded No.23 at the Australian Open
Fresh off the title win at the Aircel Chennai Open, we have just learned that Milos Raonic will be the No.23 seed at the 2012 Australian Open. Here is a complete list of the men's seeds. Raonic moved up six places from 31 to 25 when the ATP Rankings were updated this week. He also joked that he is currently tied with Murray and Tsonga for first place in the ATP points race. I wonder how long he will able to keep pace with them and the other top players looking to finish their season in London later this year?
-multi
Update: The nice thing about this is he certainly won't have to face anyone ranked/seeded higher than Tipsarevic until the Round of 16 at the earliest. Last year of course he faced M. Youzhny in the round of 32, who was ranked #10 at the time, and eventually lost to 7th-ranked David Ferrer. Based on his lack of seeding at the time (he had to win a three-setter in the final round of qualifying last year) he could very well have faced such highly ranked players in the earlier rounds.
On that note: As I was confirming the info for this update (and how to spell "Youzhny") at atpworldtour.com, just a bit below on the screen was a reminder of Milos' improvement over the past year that caught my eye. I thought I should share it with you:
Aussie Open and Chennai - Milos Raonic - 2011
Milos failed to even qualify last year for the tournament that he won this year. Of course, at the time Milos had not started his "meteoric" rise and had not started to post the results that would earn him "Newcomer of the Year", so those results weren't anything to write about... He had to qualify for the ATP 250 tournament he played after the Australian Open last year in South Africa, but he obviously has not had to bother qualifying since - now he's the 23rd seed at the Australian Open.
--wacb
Raonic Off To Great Start in 2012
Canadian Milos Raonic has started the season off right by winning the Aircel Chennai Open today. Raonic came back from a set down to defeat Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) in an epic 3 hour and 13 minute match, 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(4).
This is the second title for Milos, adding to his win in San Jose last year. For anyone who watched the match or followed the live updates, you know you were treated to something special. Raonic had not been broken throughout the entire tournament and today's final was no exception. The Canadian bombed a mind-blowing number of aces (35) and hit a 228km/h serve in the opening game of the match. There is no doubt that Raonic needed all the free points he could get today as Tipsarevic was displaying some amazing work ethic in chasing down every ball. While neither player as able to convert any break points during the match, Raonic had more chances to do so than his opponent.
I got the impression that while the scoreline was incredibly close, Raonic had a slight edge over Tipsarevic. It was clear that Milos had more than his fair share of easy service games where Janko was almost completely shut out from getting into rallies. Conversely, Raonic was able to challenge Tipsarevic's serve more often and force him to come up with some big saves at key moments. It is often the case these close matches hinge on Raonic's ability to serve himself out of trouble. He was obviously able to do that today, which allowed Milos to take more chances on the return game. This is perhaps the most encouraging thing about the Canadian's performance today.
We know that if Raonic is serving well, he can hang with the best players in the world and give himself a chance to win. But in order to capitalize on those chances, it is important to be aggressive when returning serve to put pressure on the opponent. If you rely too much on holding, like so many big servers tend to do, then your sets are inevitably decided by tiebreaks. This is a risky strategy to say the least. While each set today required a tiebreak to settle, I could see that Raonic was making a real effort to keep that from happening. It didn't happen in this match, but this is an anomaly. Next time Milos faces a Top 10 player it may be a different story.
The Chennai final was a real treat to watch. Both Raonic and Tipsarevic were at their best. A tennis fan couldn't ask for more. Things look promising for Milos in 2012 and winning the title today will give him a lot of confidence heading into the Australian Open. The 250 points also gives Raonic a well-deserved boost in the rankings, and he may move into the Top 25 when it is updated tomorrow. It was such an impressive performance today that it is hard to be overly optimistic about the rest of the season.
I couldn't resist...
-multi
Milos Raonic defeats Janko Tipsarevic to win his second ATP World Tour tennis title at the Aircel Chennai Open in India, January 8th, 2011
We just saw what was an absolutely amazing start to the season for Canada's Milos Raonic. He played a long match with Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, with all three sets going to tie-break, and pulled out the title. For now, have a look below at the play-by-play I decided to write and update during the match. A classic match and an indication of amazing results from Milos this year. Go Milos!
Here's a pic from the breaking news CBC article at: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2012/01/08/sp-atp-chennai-open.html
A shot of Milos during the final in Chennai, India, from cbc.ca
--wacb
Match Updates Feed – Milos Raonic .vs. Janko Tipsarevic – Final, Aircel Chennai Open, India – 8 Jan 2012
UPDATE: This post was updated play-by-play during the Aircel Chennai Open final in India on 8 Jan 2012.
Here is the official tournament video posted on the chennaiopentennis youtube channel:
The official video from the semi-final win over Almagro is posted at the bottom of this post since it wasn't available when I wrote that one. I also posted a video I made myself...
Update 6:40 AM Eastern (EST) - 5:10 PM local (Indian Standard Time)
Milos and Janko are warming up on the court right now. Sportsnet is showing it in Canada online and on SportsNet Pacific, Ontario, East and West. It doesn't look like they're airing it on the usual SportsNet channel for Tennis, SportsNet ONE (they're playing darts there, much less exciting). The announcers are doing their usual colourful commentary... I wish these guys would do all the North American coverage as well instead of the usual ESPN crew.
Raonic just blasted a 225km/h serve to go up 30-15 in the first game of the first set... he then threw a 228km/h (141 mph) serve and Janko to win that first game! I think the announcer just compared the players to some movie stars...
7AM EST
Raonic just earned his first break point with a blistering forehand past Tipsarevic. The Serbian brought it back to deuce with an ace but Milos was able to play the angles again to give him a second break point. Back to deuce again with an ace for Janko, but Milos' forehand brought him back to advantage again... let's see if he can convert a third break point...
7:05 AM EST
Back to deuce again with an ace by Tipsarevic, but he errored with a ball just long after some good running defence by Raonic - an excellent point. Adv. Raonic. (fourth break point). This time he gets a look at a second serve instead of an ace, but Tipsarevic forced an error down the opposite line on Raonic. Deuce. An error by Raonic on the service return gave Janko adv, and then he hit his fourth ace of the game on the second serve to keep the match on serve at 2-2. Milos' serve...
7:10 AM EST
Milos just powered through to be up 3-2 (still on serve) at love with amazing power and accuracy on serve and forehands. Milos is playing at least as well as he did yesterday. Amazing power tennis from the baseline from Raonic on the base and at the net.
7:17 AM EST
Another tough game on Janko's serve. Tipsarevic is up 40-30 due to 2 very slight errors by Raonic - if they'd gone the other way we'd be up a break! A perfectly placed forehand in the corner just gave us another deuce before Tipsarevic put it down the line for adv. What was probably Milos' best combination of pace and angle, Milos has brought it back to deuce until a netcord from Janko threw off the point in Tipsarevic's favour for adv again. Back to deuce again on a slightly long shot by Tipsarevic, followed up with a great serve out wide to give him game point again, which he converted with a nice shot down the line. Milos continues to make Tipsarevic's service games difficult. 3-3 in the first set.
7:20 AM EST
Another hold at love for Raonic to make it 4-3... incredible play from our Canadian against the top seed.
7:26 AM EST
On serve still, Tipsarevic seems to be dazzled by Milos' power. An ace and another 3 shot rally has Milos up 30-0, but this time a second serve allowed a return winner by Tipsarevic by using the pace (the second serve was 201km/h - about 215 mph!). The resistance was short-lived though, as Milos quickly put away the next two points to make it 5-4 and forcing Tipsarevic to serve to stay in the first set.
7:32 AM EST
A couple of forehand errors by Raonic has given Tipsarevic a 40-15 lead in the set, but a perfectly placed shot right on the baseline brought it a bit closer at 40-30 for Tipsarevic. Another error, this time on the backhand, gave Tipsarevic the game to keep it even at 5-5.
7:33 AM EST
Milos served up 4 aces in the following game. Tipsarevic only got close to one of them.......... 6-5, Raonic leads with a chance to break to take the first set.
7:37 AM EST
Finally having an easy serving game, Tipsarevic holds at love to force the tiebreak.
7:40 AM EST
Milos serves first and holds in the tiebreak with powerful ground strokes. And Tipsarevic answered with a few of his own great shots to keep the tiebreak even at 2-1 (on serve). At 215 km/h serve went through Janko's racket to make it 2-2, and then the linesman called a ball out that, on further review from Milos' challenge, actually caught the line. He had been on second serve but now gets his first serve back.
7:45 AM EST
On the change of ends, the tiebreak was still on serve at 3-3. Tipsarevic got the first mini-break on a well played point by Raonic which ended in an error at the net. Raonic won his second service point however, and Tipsarevic serves up 5-4.
7:47 AM EST
Janko earned a set point and converted on an error into the net by Raonic to win the first set at about 1 hour into the match. Milos was seemingly dominating the match until the last 5 minutes of the that set and tiebreak - bummer.
7:52 AM EST
Raonic earned two break points in the first game of the second set. Janko saved the first on a forehand out wide, and another good forehand forced an error from Milos to save his sixth break point to bring it back to deuce. He was able to hold on to the momentum and hold his serve. This next game will be key to see how Milos reacts to being so close so many times and not being able to convert... Here are the stats from the first set. They show a fairly close match, but it seemed to lean more toward Milos for most of it.
1st-set-raonic-tipsarevic-chennai-from-atpworldtour.com
7:56 AM EST
He answered by holding at love.
8:05AM EST
Tipsarevic held his next service game and Milos answered by holding his own quite comfortably.
8:10AM EST
Tipsarevic missed a forehand and a backhand to be down 0-30 yet again to Milos... let's see if he can convert to a break this time... Second serve, and Milos slightly overplayed an angled backhand at the net. Another successful challenge by Raonic forced a replay and first serve again for Tipsarevic. This ball caught more of the line than the last one that was called out mistakenly at that line... back to 30-30 after a good volley play by Tipsarevic. An error into the net gave Tipsarevic game point and an ace put it away to make it 3-2 on serve in the second set.
8:15
Raonic was at the losing end of a couple of correct challenges and found himself at 40-15 after an ace and a few nice forehands. He put away the game with a drop-shot that Tipsarevic was able to get to but was unable to handle. 3-3 in the second set.
8:20
Raonic used some great net play to be up 15-30 on Tipsarevic's fourth service game of the set. Some more great strategic tennis earned him 2 more break points. Second serve... Milos sent his first return slightly long. One more break point... Another second serve, and going for the angle out wide he hit the net and lost his 8th break point of the match.
8:22
Tipsarevic barely held on but he was able to pull out the game - making it 4-3, still on serve.
8:28
Milos started with an ace but missed a drop volley to make it 15-15. An error by Milos gave Tipsarevic the first real sign of a chance at 15-30. A good return from Tipsarevic's backhand forced another error, and he earned his first two break points. An ace ruined the first one down the middle at 212 km/h, and the next first serve went long, but some powerful play allowed Milos to slam an overhead volley and earn deuce. Tipsarevic sent his next return into the net, but Milos then sent one slightly wide. With another ace, Milos earned another game point. An another second serve the rally ended on an error by Tipsarevic. 4-4.
8:33
A couple of errors on returns into the net gave Tipsarevic 2 game points, but an awesome passing shot got rid of the first one but a return into the net by Milos put Tipsarevic up 5-4, still on serve, as he received treatment on what is apparently his leg, knee, or ankle as we went to the break...
8:38
Looks like it was just a re-wrap on his ankle. Serving to stay in match, the pressure is on Raonic here. The first point went Milos' way as Tipsarevic touched the net cord for it to land on his side. An ace followed that up out wide at 205 km/h. Another ace out wide and another down the middle... wow. Another hold at love for Milos. 5-5, 2nd set.
8:41
Some frustration seemed to be setting in for Milos, as Tipsarevic was up 40-0 before an amazing point painting all the lines gave him a hold at love. 6-5 for Tipsarevic - still on serve but Milos must hold to stay in it.
8:48
Milos sent the first point into the net on an error. An unplayable serve from Milos in the next point. And another at 215 km/h, he's still able to deal with the pressure. A forehand was slightly long though on the next rally. 30-30. Milos punished a number of forehands with Tipsarevic screaming around the court to return them, finally ending to give Milos the game point to force another tiebreak with another 1 hour set to force yet another tiebreak. A challenge on his first serve made him play a second serve, on which Milos got a bit too ambitious on the net allowing Tipsarevic to put it past him. Another ace gave him adv. again, and he put away an unplayable serve to force a tiebreak to decide the second set.
8:49
Milos got the first mini-break on Tipsarevic's first serve. But he errored on a forehand into the net to give it right back. The speed of the next serve beat Tipsarevic though, as he was unable to return it off the frame and we're still on serve in the second set tiebreak.
8:51
Tipsarevic did send a ball wide down the line to give back the mini-break. Some blistering forehands from Milos eventually caused an error into the net for Tipsarevic - he's up two mini-breaks. He's now not only winning more points, but finally winning the important break opportunity points!
8:54
Milos did send one just long, but forced a high return from Tipsarevic on his serve and smashed the forehand perfectly to put the pressure on Tipsarevic at 5-2.
8:57
Tipsarevic won his first service point on the eventual error by Milos in a long rally of backhands. Milos hit an awesome return on the line though to put him up another break and giving him 3 set points. He sent the first one into the net. An ace on the next serve at about 2hours and 10 minutes into the match evened it out at a set a piece. 24 aces for Raonic in the match (so far.....). Second set stats:
2nd-set-stats-raonic-tipsarevic-chennai-atpworldtour.com
9:01
Some amazing swordsmanship by Raonic puts him up 30-15 - both players are showing their determination to win the match and the tournament in this first game of the third set.
9:05
An error into the net gave Tipsarevic a break point, but Milos brought it to deuce by forcing an error with a forehand. He did put a shot wide but brought it back to deuce with an ace. He earned advantage with some more aggressive play and put the first game of the third set away with an unplayable serve.
9:09 AM EST - 2hr 24min match time
Janko's first serve in the second set hit the netcord and bounced out, but his 2ns serve forced the error on Milos. Raonic then forced one back with a cross-court forehand with Janko sending it just long down the line trying to pass Raonic. Another ace made it 30-15 but Milos answered with a backhand winner down the line, a shot that'd been giving him trouble until now. A couple of errors allowed Tipsarevic to hang on to make it 1-1 in the third set.
9:12
Raonic powered through the next game, holding at love.
9:18
Janko sent his first serve wide, but Milos sent one long on the second serve. The first double-fault of the match followed though, to make it 15-15. Some errors from Raonic saw him go down 40-15, but lit up a backhand return that was unplayable to pass Tipsarevic. 40-30. Milos chased down a few to hit an amazing backhand right on the line - amazing. Deuce.
9:19
With some great play again, Milos earned himself a chance at the net but put what should have been the last volley into the net. Milos sent the next one long and Janko survives another service game.
9:22
Milos hit a second serve at 189 km/h for an ace to make it 30-0. He powered through the rest of the game to hold at love yet again. at 2 and half hours into the match, neither player shows signs of slowing down. Truly a thrilling match thus far!
9:27
A few awesome points from Raonic on Tipsarevic's serve give Milos a chance at 0-30. An error into the net on a big forehand attempt made it 15-30, with Milos still up on Janko's service game. An unreturnable serve made the score 30-30, as Tipsarevic saves himself from another defecit on his serve and hangs on to win the game.
9:30
Milos won a quick 2 points, before an ace disappeared on a challenge and he quickly erred twice to put it back to 30-30. An ace out wide and one down the line put him up 4-3 (on serve) in the final set. 7 aces so far in the third set with his serves (1st and 2nd) showing no signs of slowing.
9:36
Tipsarevic started the next game with another double fault, probably a result of the long game and the pressure catching up to him a bit - he has shown amazing fitness and composure with all the powershots from Milos and many situations where he had to come back from a deficit. Milos earns another break point with a powerful forehand to make it 30-40 at 4-3 in the 3rd set. It's a 2nd serve and an excellent point eventually ended with an overhead smash from Tipsarevic bringing him back to deuce.
9:37
Milos was not able to return the next serve from the top-seeded Serbian, but he put the next shot into the net to make it 4-4 in the final set.
9:41
Milos, still showing amazing skill in the face of the top-seeded Tipsarevic, won the game giving up just one point to the Serbian.
9:45
At almost 3 hours into the match Tipsarevic is serving to stay in the match. The first point saw a forehand from Milos go long, and the next return also went slightly long. 30-0 for Tipsarevic on his serve. He forced an error on the next serve to go up 40-0 and another error from Milos evened it up at 5-5. Both players still hotly contesting the match in what's about to be the third hour. I'm still waiting for a chance to blink here... Another ace on Milos' first serve, and a forced error on the return of the next one. 30-0 for Milos in the 11th game. Two very close faults gave him his first double fault of the match at the 3 hour mark.
9:47
Still not thrown off, he served an unplayable rocket at 191 km/h on his SECOND serve in the next point down the middle, and went on to win the game to make it 6-5 and to force Tipsarevic to serve to stay in the match and force a deciding tie-break.
9:50
Still on his game, Tipsarevic started his last service game with two points won. 30-0. Forcing another error, he went up 40-0. He made an error on the next point though, 40-15. Milos sent one wide and yes, we are going to the third set tie-break.
9:53
Serving first in the tie-break, Milos sent his first serve home for an ace. The Serbian went a little wide on a forehand in the next point, giving Milos a mini-break. Another error on a forehand gave Milos a second mini-break! This could not be going better for Milos - looks like that determination and composure of the last few hours will pay off.
9:55
A second serve at 194 km/h put him on top of the next rally, and an unreturnable serve put Raonic up 5-0. An ambitious runaround to hit a serve on his forehand just missed and gave Tipsarevic his first point of the tie-break. 5-1 for Milos with another serve on the way from Janko, which he put away with a good rally and an amazing backhand to make it 5-2.
9:58
A smash of a serve and subsequent powerful forehand put the next point away. A fault on the next serve, and a challenge on Janko's shot just barely, by a couple mms, caught the baseline, made it 6-3 for Milos and two more serves from Tipsarevic.
9:59
MILOS WINS! The 2012 Aircel Chennai Open final is over as Milos wins on an error into the net by Tipsarevic.
10:01
Milos throws his shoes into the stands for the Indian fans - although, as the commentator mentions, they are probably too big for a vast majority of them! What an amazing match from Milos - 35 aces, about half of his aces from the entire tournament came in this match... enjoy the match facts below : ).
match-stats-raonic-tipsarevic-final-chennai-atpworldtour.com
UPDATE: Here is the video from the semi-final with Nico Almagro that's also recently been posted on the same channel:
There is some footage that wasn't shown in the official video of the final win, I'm going to see if I can find it somewhere and get it posted up here.
UPDATE 2 : Here is a video I made myself, it's got a little bit extra from the SportsNet rebroadcast last night. It has some scenes that weren't shown on SportsNet's original broadcast and not on the tournament's official YouTube release. I've left the ads/commercials in so hopefully nobody gets mad about the copyright infringement!
You might have to press play and then pause to let it load for a while. If you find this slow, you can download it yourself and play it later at this link: http://www.milosraonic.ca/vid/00000.MTS.mp4
--wacb
Raonic performs in straight sets versus 10th-ranked Almagro in Chennai, India Semi-Finals
First Set
The first break point came for 4th-seeded Milos at 2-2, but it went away with an overly ambitious forehand attempt by Milos and 2nd-seeded Almagro ended the game with a winner and an ace. The "tall Canadian", as the Indian announcers keep refering to him as, then held at love before earning 3 more break points on Almagro's next service game at 3-3. This time he did convert, following up with a hold ta love to make it 5-3. Almagro's next service game hit deuce a couple of times before he held to make it 5-4 before Raonic pounded through the Spaniard with some more amazing serves including one at 223 km/h, the fastest in the match up to that point. Milos showed again that he can pull out his best performance when needed most. He succeeded in 92% of first serves and won 86% of those. He won 14 return points compared to Almagro's 4. He also hit 10 aces in the set compared to only 2 for Almagro - overall a very solid set from Raonic.
1st Set Stats - Raonic vs Almagro - 7 Jan 2012 (from atpworldtour.com)
Second Set
Raonic came out with a bang again in the 2nd set, including wining his second service game at love to make it 2-2. The next two service games were comfortable holds as well, as Milos showed no signs of allowing Nico Almagro a chance to break him. At 4-4, Milos capitalized on a couple of errors by Almagro and blasted more laser-like forehands to get the first break of the second set and a chance to serve out the match.
The next service game was a little shaky on serve, including mostly second serves and a ball toss that got away from him. On a few of those rallies Milos hit some errors to give Nico 2 break points (his first of the match). He blasted through the first with a lightening service ace and the second with an amazing backhand down the line. At deuce, he did hit a forehand down the line a little wide, but answered to bring it back to deuce with another 2 aces to give him adv and match point. With another unreturnable serve, he put away the second set and the match.
Game, Set, & Match (stats)!
Milos more comfortable holding his service games throughout the entire match. I wouldn't go as far as to say that Milos dominated the match, but until the last game of the match, Almagro never had any chances to get ahead - it took only 1 hour and 11 minutes to put the match away 6-4, 6-4.
The stats below show that Milos gave one of his best performances today, especially considering that it was against #10 in the world and his buddy, Nicolas Almagro.
Match Stats - Raonic vs Almagro - 7 Jan 2012 (from atpworldtour.com)
Next Up... Janko Tipsarevic?
Milos Raonic's next opponent in the finals of the ATP 250 at Chennai, India is currently being decided on court. Tipsarevic is leading against Soeda 4-0 in the first set, and up 40-0 in the current game... So if it's not a final match tomorrow with Tipsarevic I'll be surprised. Either way, the final coverage from sportsnet, online and on TV, will start at 6:30 AM again tomorrow, as it did today, to see if Milos can win his second ATP World Tour title!
Multimedia
More to follow once posted by the official tournament website...
UPDATE: Here's some of the media from the site. There is no official video posted yet, but I suspect there will be soon... Click on the photo thumbs to go to the full size pics on the tournament webpage at aircelchennaiopen.org:
The third image in the top row above is probably my favorite of any of the recent shots I've seen...
--wacb
Match Preview – Milos Raonic .vs. Nicolas Almagro – 7 January 2012 at Chennai Open
Match Time and TV coverage in Canada
Unfortunately for those of us who like to sleep in here in North America, Milos' match tomorrow with Nico Almagro is first up, at 5 PM local time (India Standard Time) at the Chennai Open.
Sportsnet has indicated that they will be airing the semi-finals, and potentially also the finals. Their coverage at sportsnet.ca (and presumably at the same time on TV) starts at 6:30 AM Eastern (EST) tomorrow, Saturday, 7 Jan, and Sunday, 8 Jan. The digital "cable guide" is not updated yet but they were scheduled to show Hopman Cup action tomorrow morning anyway...
Nicolas Almagro
(a few pics from Chennai)
Nico Almagro has only had to play one match (the quarterfinals today) at this tournament, after receiving a bye in the first round and a "walk-over" in the second round. He is also entered in a doubles team that's no longer in the running... His official tournament profile is here.
Nico Almagro's star is on the rise as well as Milos'. A few years older at age 26, he is currently ranked #10, just slightly down from a career-high #9 that he achieved last year.
Almagro and Raonic have not met on the ATP courts as adversaries, but they did play in two doubles tournaments last year on the clay courts of Barcelona and Monte Carlo. Unfortunately, these two endeavours ended short, with first-round losses to Dolgopolov/Malisse and Gasquet/Ljubicic respectively.
--wacb
Raonic .vs. Sela – Multimedia
Video
aircelchennaiopen.org provided this youtube video on their website, all available at the match results page. The best part is probably the last minute, when Milos get back from a 15-40 defecit in order to win the match with aces, including from his 2nd serve!!!
Images
The official tournament webpage also provided a number of shots of both Dudi Sela and Milos Raonic, I've included the thumbs here that link to the full size pic with info at www.aircelchennaiopen.org .
Perhaps they could have coordinated their outfits for the day, as both players wore the same shirt (with Dudi missing the SAP logo) with black shorts. The only thing to distinguish them for people in the nosebleed sections (if that venue were big enough for nosebleeds) was Dudi's white ball cap and the massive height difference:
Of all the pics, this might be the best. I assume it was added because it looks like Milos is licking the tennis ball:
--wacb
Milos Raonic defeats Dudi Sela in quarterfinals at Chennai, India – 6 January 2012
1st Set
The first set was straightforward for both players, with a first chance for Milos to earn a break point coming on Sela's serve at 3-3 on a seemingly easy overhand lob, but he missed to give Sela 40-30 and eventually that game. Milos answered by winning his next service game at love.
Serving to stay in the set at 4-5, a forehand error to start off made it 0-15, but then 3 aces by Milos to made it 40-15 before Milos evened it up at 5-5.
Sela held the next game, and a shaky game by Milos in the following game allowed a tense deuce situation and a winner by Sela to get adv. Milos did get it back to deuce (notably, by successfully pulling off one of those overhand lobs he missed earlier). He finished off the 12th game with an ace and an unreturnable forehand to force a tiebreak.
An error on the first point in the tiebreak by Sela gave Milos a very early mini-break and a hold for the next two points made it 3-0 for Milos. A forehand winner behind Sela put Milos up another mini-break to 4-0. Dudi Sela did get on the board after that on an error by Milos, but Milos won his next two service points to make it 6-1. Sela did get 3 of the next points on errors by Milos, but a successful challenge by Milos on the following point gave a replay on the point and the win for Milos at 7-6(4).
The first set was a good set, with consistent play by both players. It was scary when Sela had set point at 5-6, and again when 3 of Milos' 5 set points slipped away, but in the end his powerful serve and forehand won out.
2nd Set
Raonic earned his first and only break-point and break of serve of the match in the 6th game of the 2nd set, winning the game on an error by Sela to make it 4-2. The next two games were holds by both players.
During what would be the final game of the set, serving for the match at 5-4, Milos found himself down 15-40. Mustering up that gumption we've seen so many times before, Milos rocked his serve to the end, including pulling off an ace on a second serve to achieve deuce... which, I think, shows amazing composure and confidence, but more importantly, skill, at such a point in the match!
Final score: 7-6(4), 6-3.
--wacb
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