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

Cincinnati, early rounds – Masters 1000 – Western and Southern Open

John Isner def Milos Raonic, 7-6(5), 6-4:

It was a fairly straight-forward match. Milos dropped his game during the 1st set tiebreak long enough to lose the 1st set, then played very well to go up a break in the second, before dropping his game long enough to lose that break and then to go down a break to Isner. Isner served out the match in his usual style and so ends Milos' Cincinnati run.

Next up is the US Open, where he'll probably be seeded 10th or 11th or so - we'll see how the rankings shake out. I don't think there's any way he could drop out of the top 12, which means he'll likely face someone seeded 5-8 in the round of 16, before meeting a 1-4 seed in the QFs. Long way to go before that though, we'll see how that road looks when the draw comes out.

Milos Raonic versus John Isner, now starting on Court 3 in Cincinnati (1:45pm EDT):

Watch Milos Raonic take on John Isner in the third round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati: http://t.co/FLstm7vUcX

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) August 15, 2013

There's no hawkeye on that court. But check this out on the big screen. Kinda cheesy, show's that Milos has hit the big time:

Check out this 1 minute New Balance commercial featuring Milos Raonic: http://t.co/zJZwqIMgRe

— milos raonic news (@MilosRaonicNews) August 15, 2013

Quick Update: Milos won in straights, fairly easy going, was in control the whole time. The Battle of the Serve starts tomorrow, rematch of Rogers Cup 2012 match that ousted Milos during his homecoming. Luckily, Pospisil took care of Isner to avoid the same fate. Let's see if Raonic can do a little better at Cincy 2013.

Quick Update:

So close!!! Vasek Pospisil goes down to David Goffin in 2nd round of Cincinnati Masters 1000. 5-7, 6-1, 6-7(6). #CdnTennis @VasekPospisil

— MilosRaonic Fan Blog (@MilosRaonicBlog) August 14, 2013

Pospisil can't convert multiple match points & falls 8-6 in a third set tiebreak to Goffin at #CincyTennis. #CdnTennis

— Tennis Canada (@Tennis_Canada) August 14, 2013

Update, August 14th:

See the comments below (click here) for some post-match commentary.

Timings for Canadian players today (2nd round, in chronological order):

Vasek Pospisil is up first on Court 6 versus David Goffin (a qualifier).  The match starts at 11am Eastern (1100h EDT).  There's no video coverage.

Eugenie Bouchard has a date with Serena Williams as the second match on the Center Court.  It is listed as not before 1pm Eastern (1300h EDT) but it might be later if the Youzhny/Murray match runs long...

Milos Raonic is up third on the Grandstand court versus Janko Tipsarevic.  The preceding match starts at 1pm Eastern (1300h EDT) (Isner/Gasquet), so Milos' match will likely be 3pm Eastern (1500h EDT).  There is video coverage of this court, but the order of play notes that there is a "Possible Court Change", so if the two preceding matches run long it may be moved to a non-video court.  Not sure whether Sportsnet will show this coverage online or on SN1 or SN360, etc...

Daniel Nestor plays alongside Robert Lindstedt versus Lipsky/Gonzalez as the final match on the Grandstand court following a women's match.  The ladies start not before 7pm Eastern (1900h EDT) so Nestor will be on around 8:30pm Eastern (2030h EDT).

order of play from cincytennis.com: OP_(2)

Galo Blanco News

I didn't know, but JaxonX tipped us off that Galo Blanco is now coaching Jurgen Melzer.  Here's a copy of the Sportsnet.ca article, which also talks about the emotional side of the break-up between Raonic and Blanco (article link).  The article mentioned that Raonic planned to play alongside Melzer in double in Cincinnati, but the Order of Play shows Mardy Fish, noted as "[PR]" before his name.  Does anyone know what "[PR]" means in front of a players name? 

Melzer said he was "very happy" to have Blanco in his corner, calling it a "fresh start".  (adapted from an article from an article written in German at zeit.de)

One more thing...

I'd like to share what someone sent via  the site's contact form following the Montreal final:

To: Site Owner & Admin

From:
Doreen ---------
----------@rogers.com

Message:
It may have been a clinic today but you made us proud.
Lots of class in your interviews. You're my new Gretzky!

Sent from (ip address): 174.114.--.---
(-----.cpe.net.cable.rogers.com)
Date/Time: August 11, 2013 10:14 pm

---

Tomorrow (Tues, Aug 13th) Milos will play the evening session on the Grandstand Court in Cincinnati. Vasek Pospisil is 3rd up on Court 7. Eugenie Bouchard, the other Canadian we're keeping our eye on, played today and defeated Monica Puig 6-3, 6-4, making it to the 2nd round of two Masters 1000s in a row.

Milos Raonic will face Jack Sock at 7pm (1700) EDT, and it should be available to be televised, so hopefully Sportsnet chooses to show it. The Center Court will have the likes of Sharapova, followed by Roger Federer, starting at 7pm. Pospisil's match won't be televised, but he'll have a tough task against Gilles Simon. He has entered the tournament on a special exemption due to his recent success in Montréal.

Sock has already defeated Raonic once this year, knocking Milos out of Memphis in the round of 32. That's been the only meeting of the two on tour so far... Jack Sock, an American, is a couple of years younger than Raonic and the two young stars carry much of the hope for future tennis greatness in their countries. Jack Sock gained entry to the W&S Open via a Wild Card.

If Pospisil wins tomorrow, he'll face qualifier David Goffin, and further success will likely mean a Davis Cup semi-final preview versusu Djokovic. Raonic would move on to face Tipsarevic if he wins tomorrow (another upcoming Davis Cup tie preview), followed by a likely 3rd round match with Richard Gasquet.

Eugenie Bouchard will face Serena Williams in the 2nd round. Ouch. I expect we'll see another match similar to Nadal vs. Raonic- might be painful to watch.

Draws, Schedules, and other stuff is available at cincytennis.com

http://mobile.cincytennis.com/draws.html

Posted by wacb from WordPress for BlackBerry.

Good comment from Sam I'd like to share: Nadal really is on a level of his own at this time with Djokovic slightly behind him I believe. Would have liked to see a bit of a closer match but hopefully Milos does take some positives of out this and learn from it in the future. In his post match interviews he seemed pretty happy despite the tough loss which is promising and it looks like he has gained some confidence that he can carry through the remainder of the season.

Vasek has an interesting first round matchup against Gilles Simon who hasn't been sharp of late. If Vasek can carry over his form from the last few weeks I think he can pull out a win.

Milos has a rematch with Jack Sock in round one who beat him in the first round back in Memphis. Should be better prepared this time around assuming there's no hangover from reaching his first ATP 1000 final.

Both matches I assume will be on Tuesday as they are not on the schedule for tomorrow.

Both Milos and Vasek are drawn into Djokovic's quarter so maybe if we are lucky we can have a preview of Davis Cup for both players and even if they do come out on the wrong side they can take some notes of how to better approach that matchup in the Davis Cup.