Next Up: Sam Querrey
After his 80 second finale versus Giraldo today, Milos will face Sam Querrey tomorrow on Court 1, at about noon EDT. They've never met in official play, but I think Milos knows what he has to do to win. In an interview earlier today, Milos discussed his win and his upcoming match with Sam Querrey. http://watch.tsn.ca/tennis/clip710424#clip710424 -- wacb
Milos sending stand-ins (and Giraldo match to finish tomorrow)
Milos has to finish his match tomorrow, 27 Jun, though it may only be a couple of minutes (he's up two sets to none and leading 5-4 in the third). He's up second on Court 7, which will probably be around 9am or later, Eastern Time.
While we wait, here's a couple of TV spots from Tennis Canada, depicting Milos sending his "stand-ins" to take care of his commitments while he's off practicing for this year's Rogers Cup in Toronto (can't wait...).
--WACB
Raonic vs. Giraldo on Court 18 at 12:30pm
Raonic is up last on court 18 tomorrow (Tue, 26 Jun), which probably won't be before noon (Eastern Daylight Time) and will probably be later... This is a televised court, and TSN is back with their BONUS COURT COVERAGE streaming online at TSN.ca ! It's very cool for them to bring back streaming, great for those of us who can't be at a TV since the time difference means all the tennis happens while we're at work... Just for that TSN, here's a big fat advertisement for you, courtesy of us at MilosRaonic.com (click on it to go to TSN's tennis site):
TSN ~ Tennis
Also, here's a little preview Milos on the grass at Wimbledon that he sent to the twitter-verse a couple of days ago:
--wacb
Wimbledon Draw
The draw for Wimbledon has been announced. Milos Raonic is seeded No.21 and will face Santiago Giraldo (COL) in the first round.
Santiago defeated Raonic in Davis Cup play in 2010, but a lot has changed in the last two years. Also, Santiago has never advanced past the first round in Wimbledon. It's not an easy first round opponent for Raonic (Santiago is ranked No.45), but you have to like his chances on the grass.
In the second round, Milos could face either Sam Querry or fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil. A possible third round opponent could be Marin Cilic, who is seeded No.16. Raonic is in Andy Murray's quarter of the draw (they could meet in the fourth round) and they're in the same half as Rafael Nadal. You can read more about the draw for Raonic here.
Could this be the year that Raonic makes a statement at Wimby? It's a tough looking draw, that's for sure. But Pete Sampras says that Milos is "a dark horse at Wimbledon." Live coverage starts Monday morning at 6:30AM ET on TSN.
Raonic v. Federer Redux… Again
Roger Federer defeated Florian Mayer earlier today in straight sets in Halle, Germany. This means that he will face Milos Raonic in the third round tomorrow.
This will be their third meeting and the first to be played on grass. Raonic has lost to Federer twice this year in tight three set matches in Madrid and Indian Wells. They will be the third match up on Centre Court on Friday, and Sportsnet ONE will have live coverage:
We have received confirmation that @Sportsnet ONE will air #Raonic vs #Federer live tomorrow from Halle at 10 am ET. Tune in!
—Tennis Canada (@Tennis_Canada) June 14, 2012
A Quick Update
Milos is through to the third round in Halle after edging out Petzschner in two tight sets and rolling over Zhang in the second round. His next opponent will most likely be Roger Federer.
The Davis Cup tie against South Africa will be held in Montreal at Uniprix Stadium from September 14-16.
Daniel Nestor, Vasek Pospisil, Milos Raonic & Aleksandra Wozniak will represent Canada at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Raonic and Wozniak will play singles while Nestor and Pospisil will team up for doubles.
Milos in Halle
Milos Raonic has drawn Philipp Petzschner (GER) in the first round of the ATP 250 tournament in Halle. They are scheduled to play last on Center Court.
Petzschner defeated Raonic in Halle last year, but Milos has won their last two meetings. The German has been sliding in the rankings in the last few months while Milos was able to reach a career high of No.21 just a few weeks ago. Clearly all of the momentum will be with Raonic heading into match, but Petzschner should not be underestimated on grass. He showed some tremendous skill at the net when he defeated Raonic last year. No doubt he will be bringing his best game in front of the home German crowd.
Looking at the draw, Raonic could face Roger Federer in the third round. Who wouldn't want to see that match before Wimbledon?!
In the meantime, there is still the matter of deciding the French Open winner. Just when it looked like Nadal was going to roll over Djokovic today, Novak ran off eight straight games to force a fourth set. Nadal was finally able to hold serve before the match was suspended due to rain, but he's still down a break in the fourth. I won't beat around the bush: I'm a Nadal fan. I want him to beat Novak in the finals of the French and restore order to the Universe. This is the final many fans wanted last year when Djokovic went into Roland Garros undefeated. Federer put an end to the Serbian's unbelievable run, only to lose to Nadal in the final.
Perhaps it will play to Nadal's advantage that the match was suspended. We shall see tomorrow morning:
French Open Final Will continue tomorrow at 7am ETon TSN.
— Greg McIsaac (@TSN_PR) June 10, 2012
Raonic v Monaco Goes The Distance
Juan Monaco defeated Milos Roanic in a grueling five set match at Roland Garros today, 6(5)-7 6-3 6(5)-7 6-3 6-4.
The first set saw no service breaks, with Monaco failing to convert his two chances. Milos didn't have any thanks to Monaco's steady serving and high first serve percentage. The hour long set required a tiebreak which could have gone either way after a couple of minibreaks were traded back and forth. Milos showed some finesse at the net when earning his third minibreak, allowing him to serve out the set with a nice one-two punch.
It was Monaco who would strike first in the second. Milos had a poor game serving at 2-3 and gave the break away with some ugly unforced errors. Monaco would eventually need five set points to level the match at a set a piece, having to save a break point while serving for it at 5-3.
Things weren't any better for Raonic to start the third. The errors continued to mount, and he had to save a break point in each of his first two service games. Milos finally found some rhythm in his third service game and was able to hold to love twice in a row. With Monaco serving at 4-5, Raonic found himself with a several set points. There was some confusion about a point at 30-40 where Monaco's shot was called out and the umpire left his chair to check the mark. It was then called in, but apparently the previous shot from Raonic had been called out. At least that's what I managed to get from the exchange. Either way, another tiebreak was needed.
Milos continued to look good at the net, and while his first serve percentage was still very low he only lost a single point on his first serve (and that happened during the tiebreak). Raonic surrendered his early lead, but came up with the goods later in the breaker. He took it 7-5, just like the first set.
After looking like he was going to drop serve to start the third, Monaco got the break and a 2-0 lead after Raonic's first service game. All indications pointed to this match going to a fifth set. And that's exactly what happened.
It was around this point that Raonic began to grunt when hitting his shots. Perhaps he was getting a little tired as the match turned 4 hours old. It's just not something we hear very often coming from Raonic. He had a difficult time holding in his first service game, having to save five break points to avoid falling behind. Monaco kept applying pressure and came up with a huge winner after sprinting across the court to return a drop shot that Milos left hanging. Again, it was Monaco who got the break and lead. If the previous four sets were any indication, it was unlikely that Milos would get back on serve. Monaco wasn't letting up and was giving nothing away on his serve. He made no mistake closing out the match.
The match lasted 4h33min. The stats are here.
Overall, Juan Monaco showed his clay court quality and was more consistent than Raonic. Milos failed to convert a single break point opportunity throughout the match, of which he had eight. He hit a lot of winners, but made an unhealthy amount of errors. This was just a tough and very close match that obviously took a lot out of Raonic. It was a great effort from Milos, but Monaco proved why he is one of the best clay court players currently on the tour.
Making the third round is a nice improvement over last year's French Open result for Raonic. He lost in the first round last year, which was a bit of a disappointment. The clay court season has had some pretty big ups and downs for Milos this year. There's no question that he looked much better on the clay this time around. Now things will swing over to the grass with the tournament in Halle, Germany.
-multi
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