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

Raonic Pushes Federer to the Limit

Roger Federer barely survives his second round match with Milos Raonic at the Mutua Madrid Open, 4-6 7-5 7-6(4).

It was clear from the start that Federer was looking to test the lateral movement of Raonic, just like he did in Indian Wells. Raonic didn't waste any time making a statement in his first service game hitting three aces past Federer. The forehand from Raonic was making Federer look slow on the blue clay. On the other hand, the placement of Federer's serve was so precise, he was able to push Milos out wide and open up enough court so that he literally couldn't miss. No surprises from either player there.

The first chances came for Raonic at 4-4, taking a 0-40 lead after Federer missed an easy volley at the net. Roger then hit a forehand wide and giving Raonic the first break of the match. Milos made no mistake in serving it out. He wouldn't need a tiebreak to take a set off of Federer this time around.

Federer was in trouble straight away at the start of the second. Milos won a remarkable exchange at the net and was keeping the pressure on Roger's serve. Before the game was over, Federer had to defend against three break points to keep from falling behind. In his second service game, Milos finally lost a point on his first serve. He had won 44 straight up to that point since the start of the tournament. That's kind of ridiculous.

Raonic earned another break point with Federer serving at 5-5 and looking like he was going to hold comfortably. Had Milos been able to convert it, it surely would have been equal to a match point. Raonic had to hold to take it to a tiebreak. But Federer was coming on strong knowing he had to make a move. Raonic saved the first of two set points against him with an amazing one-handed backhand passing shot that looked rather Federer-esque. A timely dropshot would earn Federer the break and the set on his second chance. Again, Raonic vs. Federer was going to require a third set.

The opportunities continued to flow mainly in Raonic's direction in the third set. But Federer always had an answer and came up with some big serves of his own to get out of trouble. Milos soon found himself in the same position as the previous set, having to hold serve to force a tiebreak. We held our collective breath as Raonic let a shot go by him thinking it was going long, but it landed in. Always the cool customer, Raonic held it together and held serve with an ace.

Federer got the mini-break advantage on Raonic's first serve of the tiebreak. After getting back on serve, Milos gave a point away on a shot he clearly shouldn't have missed. It couldn't have come at a worse time since it gave Federer a couple match points. Roger sealed the match in style with a blistering return of serve for an outright winner. With that, the 2 hour and 13 minute epic was over.

"I felt like I was on top throughout the whole match," Raonic said. "I was there doing the right things and it was good. I will probably be more happy with the whole outcome in a few days but now is not the right time." [source: ATP]

Hopefully you were lucky enough to watch it live. This was a highly entertaining and competitive match throughout. It really should have been a semi or a final, it was definitely worthy of being one. Milos certainly had his chances and if just one more of his many break point opportunities had gone his way, Raonic would likely be celebrating his second victory of the year over a Top 4 player. Federer just got it done on the big points.

Despite the loss, we couldn't have been treated to a better match. All I have to say is: Next time, Roger...

-multi