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

Milos Raonic defeats Benjamin Becker – game by game

Milos Raonic defeats Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-4, in Memphis at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships semi-finals.  My "game-by-game" recap, written as the match progressed, follows...

Update - Match Time: 12 min

The game started with a bit of a scare, with Becker running away with the first game on his serve, and Milos going down 15-30 on his serve in the next. Milos did hold on the second game of the match, but he only made 2 first serves on 7 points in the game.

The third game showed a few unforced errors by Raonic, so Becker went up 40-15 before he made an unforced error and then suffered Milos coming into the net to go to deuce. An ace by Becker and some good play coming toward the net gave him the eventual hold though. Becker's up 2-1, still on serve in the first set.

Match Time: 0:14

Milos showed us some more of what we've been seeing on his service game. He put it away quickly at love.

0:18

Becker answered back with a fairly comfortable service game himself.

0:22

Milos answered back with a hold at 30.

0:25

Becker answered back with a good hold himself. Becker is playing surprisingly well for being in his first semi-final since 2010.

0:29

Milos answered back with a good game himself though... Pounding in a couple more aces.

0:32

At 15-15, Becker had his first double fault, which gave Raonic his first real lead on a Becker service game. The longest rally of the match followed, and Milos earned his first break point.

0:33

Becker made a similar error into the next point, giving Milos that much needed break and a chance to serve for the set at 5-4. Becker's been playing well, but, as the commentator mentioned, a momentary lapse on your serve when playing against Milos is magnified, since you know it'll be hard to get back. Milos has only been broken once in the tourney so far (yesterday versus Rochus).

0:36

Milos hammered 2 aces and a serve that Becker was ALMOST able to return. On the next point, Becker guessed the wrong way and the game that sealed the set was won without even having to get in a rally.

0:45

Becker was probably affected by the loss of a set where he kept up with his opponent so well.  Milos broke Becker in the first game of the second set at love, and put away the next game quite easily.

Update at Match Time 0:48, 3:28 PM local time (Central Time)

A couple of errors by Raonic allowed Becker to take the next game, after only winning a couple of points in the first two games.

0:52

Milos showed us his impressive versatility in the next game, winning handily and in style.

0:56

Becker started the next game with some very good tennis to take the first point.  He then followed up after a good rally with a good passing shot to go up 30-0.  Milos pushed the next return of serve long.  Becker made a couple of errors following that though, before finally winning the game on a wicked forehand.

Match Time - 1 hour

Milos sent a second serve long, but he did get the point since Becker decided not to challenge.  We only knew afterwards when we got to see hawk-eye.  I wonder if there's a way to see stats on how often line judges are wrong when there is no challenge...

1:02

Becker got his first point on a point where Milos made his first serve with a wicked passing forehand.  He missed his next attempt at a similar forehand though to give Milos the game.  Milos up a set and a break in the second set (6-4, 4-2).

1:04

Becker won the next game at love very quickly with some great serving.  Again, playing very well, but those small, momentary lapses on his serve seem to have cost him an otherwise very well played game.  It has to be daunting to consider how hard it is to get a break back against Milos!  Rochus was able to do it yesterday, can Becker hope to do the same?  4-3 for Raonic in the second set with his serve coming up.

1:08

Becker won his second point on a Raonic first serve to start the next game, but a very good volley game Milos the next point, before he put away aces #12 and #13.  His 14th ace hit Becker in the back as he was turning to avoid it.  Milos takes the game to go up 5-3.

1:10

Becker did lapse again on the next game, including his 3rd double fault.  Milos put a shot wide when trying to go down the line to earn a match point to make it 30-30.  Milos put another one long on the next point, and then did very well to chase down a drop shot despite pushing just wide across the net.  5-4 for Milos as he gets ready to serve out the match.

Match Time: 1:15

Raonic has to hit a second serve on the first point of the 10th game of the second set, but put away a wicked inside-out forehand followed by an ace to go up 30-0.  An amazing serve that Becker barely returned gave an oppourtunity to punish a forehand, which he did, and what looked to be a 15th ace turned out not to be after a successful challenge by Becker.  Raonic was probably a little unsettled by this, so it's understandable that he double faulted on that point before hitting another bullet of a serve that Becker was unable to return.

Game, set, and match Raonic in 1 hr and 15 min.

19 conseutive sets, 9 consecutive games won by Milos.  Melzer will need to muster up something special tomorrow to stop Raonic...  looking forward to it!  Canadian tennis history... can Milos, the only one to win multiple titles this year, add a third?  I think yes.

--wacb