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

Raonic def. Baghdatis. Next up: Thomas Berdych

Raonic def. Baghdatis

Summary

I didn't catch the first half of Milos' match today against Marcos Baghdatis.  He lost to a tiebreak in the first set, but a single break in each of the second and third sets sealed it for Raonic at 6(6)-7, 6-3, 6-4.  Milos did win 6 games in each set, and saved 6 (of 6) break points.  Though I didn't see it, I imagine from the scoreline that the 1st set tie-break was also close.

I mentioned that Milos saved 6 (of 6) break points.  It's the "get out of jail free card", that ability to serve an ace when he needs it most (like, say, the 2nd serve ace he served today) that keeps popping out as the key to victory in a sport where the ability to come up with the big points under big pressure can mean more than an hour of beating around the baseline.  How frustrating it must be for opponents in those situations, to have an opportunity to break the best server in the game, then see it helplessly slip away.

https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/235841501962305536

Baghdatis did well to keep the scoreline where it was, considering he was only able to make about a third of his first serves.  Milos was able to make two thirds of his, which is about the threshold where any lower gets us worrying.

Highlight Video

Stats

Commentary

From me (WACB):

While the service games on both sides were generally quick in favour of the server, Milos, as I mentioned, was able to dissolve Marcos' chances quickly (all 6 of them), while he was able to capitalize on 2 of 3 of his chances to break.  This is another tell-tale sign of champions in this sport, the ability to ramp up your game when those opportunities present themselves.  It is the type of thing we see players like Federer do, going through a match back and forth on serve until an opportunity presents itself or is created, and then having the skill and confidence to be more aggressive, and step up the play to convert.  Milos showed these champion-like qualities today from my perspecive.

From Tomaso:

Yes, tougher than expected: another character-builder for Milos, as well as a nail-biter for fans! Baghdatis came out full-bore, and Milos seemed shaky to begin with. But he maintained composure (as usual!) and got himself back on form for the come-from-behind victory. Still on track for 16-seed at US Open, fingers crossed.

From TOM:

I agree Robert regarding Milos’s performance at home.He will perform better next time.
I did predict Milos would make his move at Cincy and US OPEN so again hope I’m right.

From Robert:

Magnificent ! That’s a good victory by Milos ! His defeat in Canada was due to the pressure playing home. He shows there he is better than Isner who was beaten by Gasquet. Congrats Milos !

---was there REALLY any doubt that he was better than Isner???

From multi:

NOTHING.  On that note, I thought it was interesting that when I went to the ATPWorldTour.com page just now, that it showed this:

... down in the "1,328,740 People like ATP World Tour" section.  I don't have a facebook account in any form and I never have, I'm not logged in to web-based email, this site's twitter, my Masters 1000 fantasy draw account, etc. right now, so I'm taking this as a coincedence.  There's about a 1 in 132,000 chance that I will see him as one of the randomly selected faces from all over the world each time I visit ATPWorldTour.com, and this time he popped up.

I believe it's a sign.  The "multi" who used to post on this site has been too busy with the Olympics and has apparently lost his way...  He's a much better writer than I am, so if you want him back, leave a comment to that effect and I will make sure he gets the message!

Up next: Tomas Berdych

Milos has never faced Berdych before on tour.  With Tomas' style of play, I think Milos will have some trouble.  Tomas is big and powerful too, and has a lot of experience playing at that level, having been around a bit longer than Milos and playing Grand Slam finals and all that...

The good news is that if Raonic survives Berdych tomorrow, he'll be up against Stan Wawrinka instead of David Ferrer.  Stan won today in straight sets surprisingly easily.  Given Milos' record against Ferrer (lost 4/4, twice on hard courts and twice on clay), I like his potential versus Wawrinka or Nishikori much better.  Though he's never met either on tour, Milos now outranks both and would be the favourite in either case.  Nishikori and Wawrinka will play on Court 3 tomorrow, not before 2:30pm EDT, the Raonic/Berdych matchup will follow directly afterward on Court 3, with the winners of these matches playing each other in the QF.  (note: I watched Federer v. Bogomolov Jr. today, and Federer is definitely on track to play well enough to be in that eventual semi-final for the top half of the draw!)

Though it's on Court 3, it looks like the match will happen during the supper break between the afternoon and evening sessions, so the Grandstand and Centre Court will probably be empty.  This is promising for coverage from Sportsnet, who's airing the tournament most of the day tomorrow on Sportsnet ONE. (  http://www.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule/ )

Of course, you can always just follow me on twitter at @MilosRaonicBlog (link), I'm hoping to be home from work tomorrow in time to watch it and if so, I'll keep you all updated!

Here's a little treat posted on the tournament's Youtube channel (what are the chances that we'd pick the same mixed doubles partner?):

--WACB