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

Memphis Final Live on Sportsnet ONE

Sportsnet ONE will have live coverage of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships final between Milos Raonic and Jurgen Melzer at 4PM EST today. This is the second year in a row that Raonic has made it to the finals in Memphis, losing a thriller to Andy Roddick last year in three close sets.

Melzer eliminated the No.1 and No.3 seeds on his way to reaching the finals. He was able to defeat John Isner in straight sets, managing to best the big serving American in a 2nd set tiebreak. That quarter-final result probably has the biggest implications for setting up today's final. Melzer's return game was especially strong to start that match. Isner was only able to win 55% of the points on his first serve. If Melzer is able to give Raonic the same amount of trouble, we might expect to see a couple of breaks going the Austrian's way.

But Raonic has a different serve compared to Isner. In many ways, it's a better serve. Isner's ace count was quite low in that first set against Melzer. As long as Milos is steady to open the match, he should be able to earn enough free points to keep Melzer at bay. Time will tell, but let's hope Raonic comes out of the gate like gangbusters today!

Of the four matches Melzer has played so far, three of them have gone the distance. Raonic has yet to drop a set in the tournament. That's an impressive stat in and of itself.

This is a great opportunity for Raonic to win his third title of the year. I like his chances, but Melzer will no doubt be a tough opponent. Win or lose, Milos is having a great year so far. The only match he's lost this season was to Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open. Raonic also leads the ATP tour in first serve points won (84%) and break points saved (84%). Nobody wants to be on the other side of the net when Raonic is serving. The level of intimidation is only going to grow as Raonic improves in the other aspects of his game.

Good luck in the finals, Milos!

-multi