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

Mutua Madrid Open 1000

May 7: Verdasco squeaked past Raonic today, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7). Up 4-1 in the 3rd set tiebreak, Raonic couldn't put it away:

“I had hopes when I led 4-1 in the tiebreaker and when I saved those two match points. But in the end I was missing shots by quite a bit or he was playing well. I was letting him get ahead in points. It all depended on me today.” -- from the Globe and Mail today

“I should have done better than I did here. I’m capable of much better and hopefully I can show that,” said Raonic, now 18-7 this season. -- also from the Globe today

May 6: Milos squeaked past Davydenko today 75 76(5). Only 44% of first serves in, 4 double-faults, and "only" 6 aces; so it was Milos' return game -- including 29% of first return points -- that kept him in the match. Milos converted 1 out of 5 break points, and saved 2, including a set point. >> http://www.sportsnet.ca/tennis/canadas-raonic-beats-davydenko-in-madrid/ <<  Next up: Fernando Verdasco, on home clay, tomorrow (Tuesday, May 7) at 5pm [11am ET, 8am PT]. Milos has beaten Verdasco twice on hard-court, lost their last two meetings, on clay -- but that was two years ago. Milos has been playing well on clay this year, but this will be a tough test.  Here's hoping Milos will be motivated to make Verdasco eat his words:  >>  http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/busted_racquet/post/Verdasco-whines-that-Raonic-s-two-wins-didn-t-co?urn=ten-323464 << May 5: Milos will play N. Davydenko tomorrow (Monday, May 6) at approx. 2:30pm Madrid time [8:30am ET, 5:30am PT]. Joining Milos in the main draw will be Jesse Levine, who upset Igor Sijsling 63 64 in his second qualifying match today; Jesse will play Kevin Anderson tomorrow. Waiting in second round for Milos, if he wins against Davydenko, will be F. Verdasco, who beat D. Goffin today 76(2) 62. May 3: Draw is out: >> http://www.atpworldtour.com/Share/Event-Draws.aspx?Year=2013&EventId=1536&Draw=ms <<                           [Updates daily] Milos has drawn to Djokovic's quarter, but as 12th seed would probably meet Tsonga in R16, after Nikolay Davydenko (ATP#43)  first round, then the winner of D. Goffin (ATP#61) vs F. Verdasco (ATP#45), second round. Milos has teamed up with Grigor Dimitrov for doubles; will play T. Haas & R. Stepanek first round, then 8th seed J. Melzer & L. Paes. Likely QF opponents,  if they get that far, would be the Bryan Brothers. >> http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/1536/mdd.pdf <<

Also: by making it to the Munich F, Tommy Haas has picked up enough points to bump Milos down to #14 in the ATP live-rankings.   >> http://live-tennis.eu/   <<   Milos remains at #11 in the ATP Race, behind Nico Almagro #9 and Roger Federer #10, but if Haas wins Munich he'll overtake Milos in the Race, too. Movers and Shakers:  Jesse Levine is up 6 in the live ATP rankings, to 88, after winning his first-round qualifying match at Madrid. And Vasek Pospisil is up 28 (!) in the rankings, to 103, after winning the Johannesburg Challenger.