Raonic def. Gasquet at Cincinnati, 1st round
Gasquet and Raonic put in a good match. Milos played solidly, except for the final game of the first set before the tie-break, and the final game of the second set, as he was serving it out. He did come out of those games on top, but he did make us worry during the first few points of each!
As with the Toronto final, Gasquet seemed to shrink away a little after he went down a break in the second set. He visibly stopped going for Raonic's first serves and almost admitted defest right there, it seemed.
Here are my reactions throughout the match. Not much to remark about, it could have been any opponent when Milos is playing well - just too hard to break on serve.
Raonic will face Marcos Baghdatis tomorrow on Court 3, not before 2:30 EDT. We'll wait and see if SportsNet ONE will be airing it...
https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/235530388762660864
https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/235534414858305536
https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/235536534919602176
https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/235541475998441472
https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/235545178092494848
--wacb
Racing toward a tie-break, 4-3 in 1st set of the Raonic v. Gasquet match…
It's on serve in the first set, 4-3. The best description so far is "Avg. Rally Length: 3 shots".
--wacb
Milos in Cincy – Western & Southern Open Preview
UPDATE on how to watch tonight's match (thanks Tomaso):
https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/235471587321737217
Milos Raonic to face 2012 Rogers Cup Masters 1000 finalist, Richard Gasquet, in first round of Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati
Fresh off an excellent result in last week's rain-ridden Masters 1000 tournament in Toronto, Richard Gasquet is set to meet Milos Raonic, who was almost his semi-final opponent last week.
The match is set to take place not before 7 pm local (Eastern Daylight Time) on the Grandstand Court. This court is televised, so you can probably easily find a live stream of the tennis using your favorite search engine.
Both players entered the top-20 as a result of their success in Toronto at the Rogers Cup, Milos for the first time, and as for Gasquet, though he's dipped in and out of the top-20 many times, he hasn't been ranked as high as his current #13 position since August of 2011 (he was actually as high as #11 in July 2011). A QF result or better would mean another gain in points for Gasquet, who hasn't been in the top-10 since July 2008.
As for Milos, he will continue to work toward his own ranking. Though making it to the top-16 before the US Open is not out of reach, it would be hard work. A semi-final result will almost certainly be required for such a seeding heading into the US Open, but the most likely opponents he would meet along the way would be Gasquet, Simon (je suis tres desole, Robert), Berdych, and Ferrer, in that order. Top-seeded Roger Federer would be the most likely opponent in the semi-final, as he and Djokovic battle it out in Cincy to see who will be #1 heading into the US Open (read more in the ATP article here).
N.B.: It's very nice to see Roger Federer's name on the right part of the draw! My favorite thing about Djokovic's quarter of he draw is that we will very likely see a rematch of the Toronto semi-final with 7th-seeded Janko Tipsarevic, this time in the QFs. I think Tipsarevic deserved a better result than what the scoreline read in Toronto, and it looks like he'll get his chance. Both of these top Serbian players are extreme competitors, but also know how to get along well in the locker rooms, the evidence would suggest. This pic was tweeted by Janko Tipsarevic during the rain delay late on that Saturday evening (their match finished just before midnight): click to enlarge
http://instagr.am/p/ONY2lwAHMp/
https://twitter.com/TipsarevicJanko/status/234457683418288128
--wacb
Milos vs Isner, battle of the serve.
As John Isner mentioned last night, Milos is only 21, and shows amazing potential for his future career. If I had to guess why those few errors, unusual when Milos plays at his best, crept into the game enough to provide Isner with breaks and mini-breaks, I would say it is the pressure of the crowd, the hype in the stadium, the noise, cheers, etc. I'm sure it was a first for Milos, and as he said, nothing was as fun for him as playing in front of the crowd (via twitter). It was fun for us too!.
At times, on a drop shots or when serving double faults, he looked uneasy, or apprehensive, or somehow not his usual confident self. I noticed a couple of times that he got fired up after some good shots, and then a couple of errors came and his shoulders drooped again. Either was, it was very impressive condsidering the pressure and hype he must have felt, the furthest he's ever gone in a Masters (1000) at home.
Something else I noticed from the match was that, as expected, there were very few rallies. Both players looked shakey on the ralliesn since they probably had more baseline shots during the warm-up than the entire match. It most definitely was a battle of the serve, with no real chance for either player to get into a groove.
Good luck in Cincy!
--wacb
Milos Raonic and coach Blanco practicing now at Rogers Cup #HappeningNOW
Here's a pic and vid from my Blackberry of Milos practicing right no. Sorry I couldn't make them clickableas I have limited blogging capability from my mobile! You'll have to copy and paste the links.
http://bit.ly/S7Inrm
http://yfrog.com/es4aebnj
A slight pause, but we’re back up and running again…
A little scare, but we're back on track...
A little sprinkle caused a pause in the Tipsarevic/Cilic match (2-2, 1st set) on court 1. #RogersCup http://t.co/8atOUFfv
— MilosRaonic Fan Blog (@MilosRaonicBlog) August 10, 2012
... And now they're drying the lines to play again... Phew! Did they pause on Centre Court? http://t.co/ozJMAnqW
— MilosRaonic Fan Blog (@MilosRaonicBlog) August 10, 2012
Ambitious schedule tomorrow for Rogers Cup
New Schedule and Order Of Play
So, tournament organizers have planned to do the 3rd round (R16) tomorrow morning, and the QF round in the evening. Milos will be playing either John Isner or Philipp Kohlschreiber, who will have just playing their 3rd Round match a few hours earlier. Milos hasn't played either player.
On the doubles side, Raonic/Troicki handed a walk-over to Paes/Melzer. I couldn't find any reasons for the withdrawal, but I figure Milos is planning to focus on singles play, and Troicki is escaping the rain...
Click on this screenshot of the new OoP to access the schedule of play at RogersCup.com. For us fans, either watching in the stands or on CBC or Sportsnet on TV or streaming (see the bright green "Live Streaming" link at RogersCup.com), it promises to be quite a day. For the players, having to play both matches in one day will probably be tough, but I think they rested well enough today : ).
The Weather
Now for the very bad news. While this schedule sounds great and would put the tournament back on track, the weather looks no better for the rest of the tournament. Here's what Environment Canada is predicting:
- Tonight
- Periods of rain ending overnight then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of a thunderstorm this evening and overnight. Amount 5 to 10 mm. Low 17.
- Friday
- Cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers in the morning. Periods of rain beginning near noon. Risk of a thunderstorm in the morning and afternoon. Amount 10 to 20 mm. Wind becoming northeast 20 km/h late in the morning. High 21.
- Friday night
- A few showers ending after midnight then cloudy with 60 percent chance of showers. Risk of a thunderstorm in the evening and overnight. Low 18.
- Saturday
- Showers. High 21.
- Sunday
- Cloudy with 30 percent chance of showers. Low 16. High 25.
- source: http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/on-64_metric_e.html
This definitely puts the tournament in a tricky spot.
I look forward to all this rain getting overwith during the thunderstorms tonight, and waking up to a sunny GTA!
--wacb
Day session cancelled. Milos scheduled for about 9pm for doubles.
New order of play: http://tinyurl.com/cgglzyt
Day session cancelled. Milos/Troicki takes to Stadium court after Djokovic's 3rd rnd match there. It all starts at 7pm Eastern Time.
--wacb
New schedule out – Raonic to play doubles on Stadium Court
https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/233649321214623744
Murray withdraws, Milos advances to QF
https://twitter.com/Tennis_Canada/status/233641197913128962
https://twitter.com/MilosRaonicBlog/status/233643402934239232