June « 2013 « Milos Raonic

21Jun/13Off

Wimbledon

June 27: Sijsling defeats Milos 7-5 6-4 7-6(4).

CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/tennis/story/2013/06/27/sp-wimbledon-raonic-jesse-levine-serena-williams-djokovic.html?cmp=rss <<

June 26: Milos plays Igor Sijsling Thursday, June 17, third-up on Court 18, so maybe 3pm SW19 time, 10am ET, 7am PT.

June 25: Milos defeats Berlocq in pretty decisive fashion, 6-4 6-3 6-3. Milos took 42% of receiving points, 88% of his first serves, 62% of second serves, with 71% of first serves in, 19 aces; only 18 unforced errors vs 54 (!) winners. Berlocq managed only one break point in the match, late in the third set, while Milos was a threat in almost every one of Berlocq's service games. Milos' backhand, though used sparingly, was effective; many good cross-court then down-the-line or inside-out combinations, and nice touch at the net. Great to see Milos' shot selection filling out.

Milos joins fellow Canadians Genie Bouchard, Vasek Pospisil and Jesse Levine in the second round, the first time in twenty-five years **[comments, please!] four Canadians have made it to the second round of a slam together. Next up for Milos will be Igor Sijsling (ATP#59); if he can get past Sijsling he'll meet either Denis Kudla (#112) or Ivan Dodig (#54) who upset Kohlschreiber (retired fifth set) today.

CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/tennis/story/2013/06/25/sp-tennis-canadians-wimbledon-raonic-levine.html <<

June 24: Milos is scheduled to play third on Court 12, Tuesday, June 25; after Harrison v Chardy, so maybe 2pm to 3pm local time, approx. 9-10 ET, 6-7 PT.

CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/tennis/story/2013/06/23/sp-atp-wimbledon-milos-raonic.html <<

June 23: Looks like Milos will play Tuesday, as he is not on Order of Play for Monday -- contrary to what we've seen on some betting sites. However, Canadians can cheer for Eugenie Bouchard, first-up on Court 8, followed by Vasek Pospisil, also on Court 8.

June 21: The Wimbledon draw is out, and Milos could have done worse, given that he is seeded outside of the top 16. Milos, in the second (Ferrer) quarter, will face Carlos Berlocq (ATP#72) in round one. If he wins that match he will meet either Alex Kuznetsov (#173) or Igor Sijsling (#59). The likely third-round (R32) opponent would be 16th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber (#18).

Live Draw: http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/draws/ms/r2s1.html << Updates daily.

Filed under: Uncategorized No Comments

15Jun/13Off

Eastbourne – Aegon International 250

June 19: Dodig d Milos 6-2 7-6(7). CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/tennis/story/2013/06/19/sp-tennis-atp-raonic-eastburne.html <<

June 18: Milos is first up against Dodig tomorrow on the Centre Court, 11am, Wed, June 19th. This is in about 6 hrs from now, which will be about 6am Eastern Time.

Milos has faced Dodig twice before, once on clay and once on hard court (Barcelona 2011 and Kooyong 2013, respectively). Milos won their most recent match in Kooyong in straights, while Dodig won their first-ever match in 3-sets in 2011.

Ivan Dodig defeated Denis Istomin today in their 1st rnd match 6-3, 6-4. Raonic is the top seed in the 250-level Eastbourne tournament and had a bye in the 1st rnd.

June 15: [Thanks for the heads-up, Sam!] Milos has received a wildcard to join the ranks at Easbourne, as top seed. Official announcement: http://www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/LTA-summer-grass-court-events/Aegon-International/News/2013/Raonic-Ward--Edmund-Awarded-Aegon-International-Wildcards/ <<

Draw: http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/741/mds.pdf << Updates daily.

Milos starts with a bye in round one; in round two will play either Denis Istomin or Ivan Dodig. If he wins that match things get interesting: either eighth-seed Fabio Fognini, or Grega Zemlja, Martin Klizan or Viktor Troicki, for QF. A likely SF opponent would be Juan Monaco.

Filed under: Uncategorized No Comments

8Jun/13Off

Halle – Gerry Weber 250

June 13th: Raonic and Nishikori lost in their doubles match against Kohlschreiber and Youzhny, so the grass court warm-up's over. They lost 2-6, 5-7 and only managed 3 aces (and 3 dbl faults) between them for the match.

June 12th: Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikor take on Phil Kohlschreiber and Mikhail Youzhny tomorrow, on Court 1, not before 2pm local (after Kohlschreiber has had suitable rest after his singles match versus Tobias Kamke, also of Germany, starting at noon on the main court).

Japanese player Kei Nishikori was also knocked out in singles play, against Mikhail Youzhny today. So Milos and Nishikori will try to avenge their recent singles defeats to these players. Both of the opponents have been on the upswing lately. Obviously it's great practice on the surface, but hopefully there's more rounds to come for the two young fellers. Youzhny did well in Halle last year as well, making it to a semi-final match with the Feds after Roger defeated Raonic. Watch the Roger-Milos quarter-final from last year in Halle on youtube here:

Highlights: youtube video link

Full Match: youtube video link

--wacb

June 11: Monfils defeats Milos pretty decisively 64 62; Milos did not have any break-points, was not able to get much going on Monfils' serve; meanwhile Gael returned well, especially on Milos' second serve. Monfils seemed to be having a good time out there, did not have to really stretch himself that often, just waited for errors from Milos. Open for comments here.

ATP: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2013/06/24/Halle-Tuesday-Monfils-Gulbis-Baghdatis.aspx << [with video]

June 10: Interesting results from opening day: Milos and partner Kei Nishikori upset the top-seeded doubles team 6(4)-7 7-6(5) 10-3 -- super-tiebreaker; see comment from Robert, thanks! -- while dream-team Federer/Haas went down in straight sets to Melzer/Petzschner. And in singles, Milos' possible second-round opponent Daniel Brands, who took a set off Rafa at Roland Garros, lost in straight sets to 254-ranked qualifier Jan Hernych; and David Goffin went down in three sets to 156-ranked wild-card Mischa Zverev.

>> http://www.tenniscanada.com/index.php?title=RAONIC/NISHIKORI-UPSET-NO.-1-SEEDS-AT-HALLE&pid=4669 <<

Milos takes on Gael Monfils first-up on Centre Court tomorrow, Tuesday, June 11: noon Halle time, 6am ET, 3am PT. Watch it live on Sportsnet ONE.

June 9: Sportsnet ONE has Halle on the schedule starting 11pm ET tonight, 2am PT Monday. Milos' doubles match starts at noon Halle time: 6am ET, 3am PT, but on Court 1; will we see it?

June 8: Draw is out for the Gerry Weber Open. Milos is seeded fifth, in Tommy Haas' quarter, Roger Federer's half. His first-round opponent? Not a qualifier, nor is it one of the German wild-cards with 100-plus ATP rankings; it's Gael Monfils. If Milos wins that match his likely second-round opponent would be Daniel Brands (ATP#59); with Tommy Haas waiting for QF, and Roger for SF.

Just on the off chance that Milos does not make it to the Finals, he'll get a bit more grass-court practice paired up with Kei Nishikori for doubles. Of course they drew the top-seeds in round one. (Then-again, unseeded Federer/Haas are in the other half.)

>> http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2013/500/mds.pdf << Updates daily.