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

1st Round – Milos v. Troicki, Aug 7th, Rogers Cup 2012 (+ pics and 2nd round preview)

The Match

Milos did not disappoint last night.  In front of a huge crowd of loud, proud, and cheerful fans, Milos put away Viktor Troicki in a routine fashion, final score 6-3, 6-4.

Stats

Aces

Milos hitting an ace is a majestic thing to watch from the stands.  It's very hard to track from the side of the court, I can't imagine having track it down to return it all, let alone in such a way as to avoid a smash or volley winner on the next shot!  Though the serve speed read 231, 232 kmph at times, it seemed faster that from where I was sitting...

Nobody cheered more on those 7 aces than these gals.  They were up in the North-East 300-level "Fan-Zone":

Aces sitting...

Aces up and cheering!

Gallery

Feel free to share/use these photos.  Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version, and the high-res version is accessible from these as well.

Stats

Aces up and cheering!

Aces sitting…

Serving out the First Set

Serving out the First Set

Serving out the First Set

Serving out the First Set

Winning the first set

Winning the first set

Winning the first set

Winning the first set

Between sets, preparing for the 2nd set

Ready for the next serve, late in the 2nd set

Signing 4 tennis balls to hit into the stands

Signing 4 tennis balls to hit into the stands

Watching his 4th signed tennis ball go up, this one just missed the “Fan Zone”

à bientôt

à bientôt

Return of Serve late in the 2nd set

Serving out the First Set

Post-match interview

Milos shows off why it's so easy to be a fan of his during the post match interview.  He talks about the Olympics experience, the marathon match against Tsonga, and what's he's learned from it that he brings to this year's Rogers Cup.

What I like about Milos' interaction with the press is that it seems like he actually says meaningful things and that he seems sincere in his responses.

Up Next

Milos Raonic and Viktor Troicki will be taking on del Potro and Stepanek in doubles action on Court 1 in a few minutes.  Oddly, both teams are made up of players who met each other in the 2nd round of singles play!  In the latter case, Stepanek just defeated del Potro in straight sets, 7-6(2), 6-4.

Milos will be taking on the winner of the [2]Murray/[Q]Cipolla match in the 3rd round of singles play, to be decided in a few hours.  Hopefully this recently-awarded Olympic gold-medalist fares better than the bronze-medalist did this morning!  Either way, both players have every right to be tired after their performances last week.

Congrats and thanks again to all those who went deep in the London 2012 Olympics tournament and still came to see us fans in Canada!

--wacb