Barcelona 500 « Milos Raonic

20Apr/13Off

Barcelona 500

Update, April 27th: Nadal defeats Raonic 6-4, 6-0. Nadal was on in the 2nd set, enough to push Milos right out of the match. Hopefully some positives for Raonic out of this, as he is responsible for Nadal having elevated his game- Almagro had better be ready for a good match tomorrow!

Update, April 26th: Milos defeats Gulbis and Robredo, sets up a semi-final match-up with Rafa Nadal tomorrow, April 27th! Catch it LIVE on Sportsnet ONE at 10am ET, 7am PT. Thank you Sportsnet!!

Update, April 25: Convincing 6-4, 6-2 Victory for Milos in his 1st Match in Barcelona over Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Milos' next Opponent will be Ernests Gulbis. [Daniel] ** Rain-delayed; now scheduled for Friday, April 26: two matches. **

Update, April 23: E. Roger-Vasselin has won his match against Hajek, so will be Milos' second round opponent, first up (11:00am) April 24 on Pista 1. Meanwhile F.Verdasco has fallen to qualifier Ernests Gulbis (ATP#53) who now waits for a potential third round match with Milos.

April 20: The Barcelona draw is out: >> http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/425/mds.pdf << ...and it's not a bad one for Milos: as 5th seed he starts with a bye; in round 2 will play the winner of Edouard Roger-Vasselin (ATP#81) vs qualifier Jan Hajek (ATP#89). If Milos gets past second round he will likely meet [not Tuesday; probably Wednesday] Fernando Verdasco (ATP#31) -- very much at home on clay, but not having a great year so far. Success vs Verdasco would take Milos to the QF, likely against the winner of a Berdych vs Dimitrov match; either way a challenge, but a match to look forward to!

Posted by Tomaso

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Jean-François
April 28th, 2013 - 10:23

Congrats Milos. Loosing in the SF against Rafa in Barcelona! Wow.
TOM
April 27th, 2013 - 14:07

Good tournament for Milos.
What can he do when Rafa is serving almost 75% and sharp as a tack on Red Clay.
- Tomaso
  April 27th, 2013 - 17:34
  
  Rafa was just too good! Milos had a good game-plan, and played pretty well; he’ll take the lessons of this match and continue to grow as a player.
- wacb
  April 27th, 2013 - 17:35
  
  Evidently not too much! He’s got to take whatever positives he can from it and move on. Defended impressive result from last year, that’s great in itself.
TOM
April 26th, 2013 - 16:15

Witnessing a maturing artist in Milos.
Character is built not ordered.
Rafa better get a good nights sleep
- wacb
  April 26th, 2013 - 18:02
  
  Unfortunately was not able to get anywhere near a TV or non-work computer today. Sucks to have missed it, apparently. I will have to catch up on those matches tonight!
Daniel
April 26th, 2013 - 14:33

Clutch Play from Milos. 5-5 3rd Set and 15-40. Milos fails to convert 2 BP. Robredo manages to hold. Next Game Milos falls behind 0-30 but manages to hold. Milos wins the TB 7-2

Milos to play Rafa tomorrow.
Daniel
April 26th, 2013 - 09:25

Milos has beaten Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 7-6 (5). He’ll play the Winner of the Berdych/Robredo Match in the QF. This Match is at the beginning of the 3rd Set as I write here.
- Tomaso
  April 26th, 2013 - 13:17
  
  Robredo d Berdych 36 76(5) 63. Now Raonic v Robredo on-serve in the second set. If anyone was able to watch the first set, please post what happened! Milos was dominating to start, up a break (on six chances) then Robredo turned things around, started banging aces (now even with Milos) broke back (on one chance!) then took an early two mini-break lead in the tie-break and went on to win. Hopefully Milos can get his groove back!
  - Daniel
    April 26th, 2013 - 13:37
    
    You summed the 1st Set up nicely. Milos should have won that Set. He has just won the 2nd Set 6-3.
  - Tomaso
    April 26th, 2013 - 14:38
    
    How many times have we heard that “anyone can win when he’s playing great; great players are those who can find a way to win when they are not playing their best.” I think Milos’ win today vs a “hot” Robredo shows that he has that touch of greatness. Match could have gone either way; well done Milos! And a SF date with the King of Clay tomorrow!
    - wacb
      April 27th, 2013 - 01:17
      
      Speaking of the King of Clay, I think this will probably be the most difficult match of Milos’ career, just in terms of skill/ability differential on the surface. Rafael Nadal on the red clay must be the most dreaded player/surface combo in the sport! I’m interested to see how Milos deals with this; it’s gotta be more daunting than Murray, who he beat last year in Barcelona QFs, or Federer on any surface…
Tomaso
April 25th, 2013 - 00:05

Gulbis will be no pushover: clay is probably his strongest surface; in fact Tennis Insight ranks Gulbis at #13 on clay, with Milos not making it on the top-20 list. Still, betting currently favours Milos, with odds of about 1.4 to 1. >> http://www.tennisinsight.com/rankings.php?stat=Cl_Rate << And at those odds, I’m sticking with Milos!
Daniel
April 24th, 2013 - 07:25

Convincing 6-4, 6-2 Victory for Milos in his 1st Match in Barcelona over Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Milos next Opponent will be Ernets Gulbis.
Daniel
April 23rd, 2013 - 07:51

Milos cited the little Practice Time he had in Monte Carlo for his loss against Nieminen in Monte Carlo. Very unstandable after his long flight from Vancouver to MC. That being said Nieminen beat Delpo and reached the QF there.

Barcelona should be better for him. More importantly Milos will likely get a Top 16 Seeding for Madrid. I Madrid I think Milos will really rumble the Draw. Altitude & Conditions will suit Milos there.
- wacb
  April 24th, 2013 - 00:24
  
  Only thing that would make Madrid better for Milos would be if the blue clay were back this year. As cool as it was, it was banned from the ATP after the tournament last year. I guess we’ll see regular old clay in Madrid…
  - Daniel
    April 24th, 2013 - 07:21
    
    I agree with you. Still even without the Blue Clay Madrid will be considerably faster then the other Big Clay Tourneys.