Indian Wells 1000 — BNP Paribas Open « Milos Raonic

5Mar/13Off

Indian Wells 1000 — BNP Paribas Open

Draw: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2013/03/10/Indian-Wells-ATP-Draw-Preview.aspx << Milos, seeded 17th, has a bye in the first round; in the second round he will meet the winner of M. Llodra v a Qualifier. A win in that match will take Milos to a third-round meeting with M. Cilic (12th seed) (or possibly H. Zeballos or A. Ramos). If successful vs Cilic, Milos' fourth-round opponent will likely be 8th seed JW. Tsonga. Last year Milos came in seeded 27th, won his second-round match in straight sets, then met Roger Federer in the third round. Milos won the first set, but Roger won the match, then went on to win the tournament, having dropped a total of only two sets. I think it's fair to say that Milos stands a better chance this year of making it to the fourth round (R16); and he could have done worse than Tsonga there as a potential opponent. If Milos plays Roger this year it will be at the Final. Meanwhile, congratulations to our other Canadians who made it Canadian Bagel Day in round one of the Quallies: Vasek, Frank and Jesse all won their matches, all three with a 6-0 set. >> http://www.tenniscanada.com/index.php?title=Canadians-Perfect-on-Day-Two-in-Indian-Wells&pid=4421 << Not so perfect in second round: Vasek through to main draw 61 62, but tough losses for Frank (36 76) and Jesse (26 57). Milos is teaming up with Feliciano Lopez for doubles; they play 3rd seed Daniel Nestor & Mahesh Bhupathi in round one.

TV coverage in Canada from Indian Wells will be on Sportsnet ONE, starting Saturday, March 9 from 11am to 9pm Pacific Time; see: http://www.sportsnet.ca/schedule/ <<

UPDATE (March 9) -- Milos & Lopez have just pulled off a straight-sets upset 64 76(4) over 3-seed doubles team Bhupati & Nestor [Sorry, Daniel.] In round 2 they will play M. Fish & J. Blake (unseeded). Meanwhile, Michael Llodra has withdrawn (hip) giving Milos a walkover to singles round 3, where he will meet A. Ramos or M. Cilic. The down-side is less match play, in preparation for what will be a tough round 3 match; hopefully the extra doubles match will make up for that. [Llodra: http://www.sport365.fr/tennis/atp/indian-wells-llodra-declare-forfait-contre-raonic-993225.shtml ]

UPDATE (March 10) -- Milos & Fely vs Fish & Blake 3rd up on Court 7 Monday, March 11; Milos vs Marin Cilic Tuesday, March 12.

UPDATE (March 11) -- Milos Raonic and Feliciano Lopez lost to home-country favourites tonight in 2nd rnd of doubles, Blake and Fish, in straights 6-3, 6-3. Milos is up tomorrow versus Marin Cilic at 2PM Eastern (EDT). They are the first match on Stadium 3 court, which starts at 11AM local time. Milos has yet to play a singles match in the tournament; his first and seconds rounds were a bye and a walkover, respectively. Looks like Sportsnet ONE's coverage doesn't start until 4PM EDT, so hopefully they run in tape-delay of a couple of hours or they change their schedule! You can always just google "watch live tennis" and watch it that way, if that's your only option... Sportsnet's schedule: < http://www.sportsnet.ca/schedule/ >

UPDATE (March 12) -- Milos has come out ahead of Cilic, as predicted (see comments below!). Milos dropped the first set and came back to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. We will have a Raonic / Tsonga 4th round match-up to come, sched TBD. AP article from CBC: < http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/sports/tennis/story/2013/03/12/sp-atp-indian-wells-milos-raonic.html >

UPDATE (March 13) -- Milos Raonic will take on Jo-Willy Tsonga on Stadiun Court 2 after a doubles match which begins at 11 AM local time. This should put them on court around 4PM Eastern (EDT). This should be a great match, and would set us up for an awesome QF versus Nolé should Milos win... Go Milos!

UPDATE (March 13, again) -- Another missed opportunity! An early break, dominant play, and Milos is up a set. Continued strong play, serving to make it 6-6, for a tie-break which he would probably win, one loose game and Tsonga is off the hook, has taken the second set 7-5. Third set, not playing as well but hanging in, heading for another tiebreak, another loose set, with DF on match point, and it's all over: Tsonga d. Raonic 46 75 64.

Another update: here's a youtube vid of ATP's "Hot Shot" from the match. http://t.co/gwEGu6K21i

Posted by Tomaso

Filed under: Uncategorized Comments Off

Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

Daniel
March 17th, 2013 - 18:29

Rafael Nadal has “Withdrawn” from Miami as expected.

So the Seeds are:

# 1 Nole
# 2 Muzza
# 3 Ferrer
# 4 Berdych
# 5 Delpo
# 6 Tsonga
# 7 Tipsarevic
# 8 Gasquet

Milos will be seeded # 14
TOM
March 17th, 2013 - 00:10

I agree it all boils down to maintaining that focus,keeping the pedal to the metal and closing the deal.
If you let up at this level the better player will always take advantage very quickly.
That’s why the same players are near the top consistently because at some point in the match the lower ranked players falter just a little but enough to open the door to defeat.
Winning one set does not make a match win.Just halfway there.
Milos is learning these valuable lessons with each loss to a higher ranked and not necessarily a better player.
Daniel
March 16th, 2013 - 12:02

As a TennisTV.com Subscriber I was lucky enough to watch the Full Replay of Milos Match against Tsonga. Yes, Milos should have won this but he must stay positive & patient even if he loses such Match. He’s by far the best under 23-year old. As he matures as a Player he’ll win those kind of Matches in the future.

With Roger Federer not playing Miami Milos will be seeded # 15 and if Nadal pulls out as well he could be seeded # 14.
- wacb
  March 16th, 2013 - 23:33
  
  Agreed, he should have won. He has the tools to do so. It can’t be a coincidence that he only let his guard down on serve in the final games of both sets, and in fact was so flustered when double-faulting away the match that he didn’t realize it was over.
  
  There’s something mental that Milos needs in his repertriore before he starts to make QFs in Slams and Masters 1000s. It’s coming, but not there yet. I believe he and his coaching team recognize this, since he has learned to always speak confidently and speaks of being convinced of his potential. The confidence on court will follow if he keeps up his attitude and keeps getting good results. Confidence breeds success! I await the day that Milos is in the final game of a set to win against a top 8 player and then kicks it up a notch to close it out. Soon!
TOM
March 14th, 2013 - 01:58

I like where Milos is at right now.Just about there.It takes time and patience and strong focus to play those few points better that make the difference between winning and losing at that level.
Once Milos does that it will be his breakthrough mentally.
Look at Djokovich knocking at the door for years then he broke through and now on critical points he knows he can step up and execute under pressure.
- wacb
  March 14th, 2013 - 18:49
  
  Showing some improvement at net as well, as the “Sky Sports” commentator put it last night: “It’s the future for him”. Here’s ATP’s hot shot of the week, featuring good quick volley’s at the net from both players:
  http://t.co/gwEGu6K21i
Tomaso
March 13th, 2013 - 19:03

Another missed opportunity! An early break, dominant play, and Milos is up a set. Continued strong play, serving to make it 6-6, for a tie-break which he would probably win, one loose game and Tsonga is off the hook, has taken the second set 7-5. Third set, not playing as well but hanging in, heading for another tiebreak, another loose set, with DF on match point, and it’s all over: Tsonga d. Raonic 46 75 64.
TOM
March 12th, 2013 - 17:12

I looked good on that one.
Who needs practice matches when you’re so gifted like Milos.
- Tomaso
  March 12th, 2013 - 17:21
  
  Congrats to you and wacb for your predictions! …and of course full credit to Milos for pulling off an exciting come-from-behind win! Correct: right now Milos needs less practice, and more match-play, the tougher the opponent the better. Next up: J.W. Tsonga, who has just taken Mardy Fish in two tie-breaks.
  - Daniel
    March 12th, 2013 - 17:31
    
    Jo hasn’t being playing very well as of late so decent chance Milos could pull out an Upset. I really want a Milos – Nole QF.
    - wacb
      March 12th, 2013 - 18:20
      
      That would be sweet. Remember the last Tsonga/Raonic match in the olympics? At least this one would end in a 3rd set tie-break! Bring it on!
Bill
March 12th, 2013 - 15:52

Not looking good at the moment; maybe not enough play
TOM
March 12th, 2013 - 02:02

I predict Milos in 3
- wacb
  March 12th, 2013 - 09:42
  
  I hope so. Milos usually starts tournaments slowly, sometimes losing the first match, as we’ve seen. I’m hoping Raonic finds his groove before he’s down a break in the 2nd set, then rides it to vitory. I predict (hope) 3 sets, with Cilic taking the first and Milos powering his way through the rest of the game!
  - wacb
    March 12th, 2013 - 09:43
    
    I suppose, though, he played in the first couple of rounds in doubles, so he might be sufficiently warmed up for IW.
- Bill
  March 12th, 2013 - 16:05
  
  Marin’s not going to go easy
Tomaso
March 12th, 2013 - 00:13

So much looking forward to this Milos vs Cilic match, for so many reasons! Go Milos!!
Daniel
March 9th, 2013 - 19:34

Milos’ 2nd Opponent Michael Llodra has WITHDRAWN from the Match with Milos so our Canadian gets a Walkover in Round 3 where he’ll play the Winner of Cilic/Ramos.