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

30Sep/13Off

Tokyo 500

Oct 6th: As JasonX noted below, Milos was the better player. He had better stats on the match (for the most part, there was that whole "break points converted" and mini-break points converted" stat), playing very well, consistently, throughout. It's not too often someone goes an entire tournament without being broken until the last few minutes of the final... Either way, his play further confirmed that he belongs up there with the likes of Tsonga, del Potro, and the others who are biting at the heels of the top four.

Del Potro defeats Raonic, 7-6(5), 7-5.

Stats: Milos vs DelPotro - Tokyo Final

Stats: Milos vs DelPotro - Tokyo Final

Oct 5th: In about 3 and a half hours Milos Raonic will take on Juan-Martin del Potro in the final in Tokyo. Their last meeting was the controversial Toronto match where Milos' foot touched the net before the second bounce on a big point, but Layani didn't see it. There was some backlash after the replay showed, with many thinking Milos should have called the fault on himself.

Milos eventually won that hard court match, making it to the all-Canadian semi-final with Pospisil then to the Final with Nadal (another possible rematch, in Beijing next week).

Oct. 4th: Semi-final tonight, Milos vs  Ivan Dodig on Sportsnet ONE 11pm ET, 8pm PT. Dodig won their only two previous encounters: a 3-setter on clay in Barcelona in 2011, then on grass this year at Eastbourne; so he's shown that he can win, if Milos is not playing well. On the other hand, I think we have reason to anticipate that Dodig will be facing a new and improved Milos Raonic tonight.

And how many pictures on my phone look like this:

Oct 2nd:      Talk about a silver platter - here's a recap of the rest of today's action/intel from Tokyo à la Tomaso:

Tsonga is out: lost to I.Dodig 6-4 7-6(5). Anderson is out: Lost to Lucky Loser Lukas Lacko, who replaced LLodra. Chardy squeaked by Chiudinelli in a 3rd set tiebreak 6-6(6). Bottom line: Milos not only is now the top-dog in his half of the draw, he's THE ONLY SEED LEFT! Next up: Chardy; after that QF - LL L.Lacko or Qualifier Roger-Vasselin; after that SF - Nieminen or Dodig. And after that, the Final. This is looking like a big opportunity. Let's go, Milos!!

Also, here's Milos' post-win interview from the Thailand final:

Oct 1st:

Milos Raonic defeated Japanese wildcard Go Soeda 6-4, 7-6(0). Milos hit 24 aces (to Go's 3) and had a 95% first serves won percentage coupled with 61% on the second serve. Soeda did not have any break point opportunities and, as can be seen by the 2nd set tie-break score, it seems Milos had good control of the match.

While this match was not televised or streamed anywhere, his next match should be. He should play on 4 Oct (the day session that day will start in the evening on 3 Oct, Eastern Time). Milos won the match in Tokyo on Wednesday afternoon (about 12:30) before it even turned Wednesday, Eastern Time, in North America. Milos' opponent for 2nd rnd will be decided in a later match... del Potro is currently taking to the stage at centre court versus Carlos Berlocq.

Here are pics of a lucky fan's souvenirs from Thailand:

Sep 30th:

Raonic will take on Japanese wildcard Go Soeda in the first round of the Rakuten Open (Japan Open Tennis Championships). He is not scheduled for tomorrow, 1 Oct, so he will play on 2 Oct (Wednesday). Japan Time is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time, so the day session on Wed starts 10pm on Tues Eastern Time...

Milos has faced Soeda once before, in the semifinals of a Challenger event in Granby, Quebec, Canada, in 2010. Raonic won in 3 sets (3rd set was a tiebreak). Soeda, ranked 113 on the tour currently, will likely not be able to provide as much resistance this time around...

Milos, in the bottom half of the draw of 32, would face either Jeremy Chardy or Marco Chiudinelli, the Swiss qualifier, in the 2nd round. Looking ahead, he'd likely meet Anderson in the QFs, then Tsonga (who beat Monfils today) in the SFs. First seed/wildcard Juan-Martin del Potro heads up the top half of the draw, alongside Almoagro, Tipsarevic, and home-town favourite/defending champion, Kei Nishikori.

Posted by wacb from WordPress for BlackBerry.

Posted by wacb

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  1. JasonX
    October 6th, 2013 - 04:02

    And Milos has lost the final. Unbelievable luck for Del Potro in the 1st and 3/4 of the 2nd. Milos was the better player the entire match. This is really a shame as he has very few chances to get in london now. He needs to outperform Wawrinka this week.

    • Tomaso
      October 6th, 2013 - 16:16

      Still, it was a great match. Milos played well; so did Delpo. On the surface the stats look incredibly even: 42 points each in the first set, 35 points each in the second; 3 break points each, with the one conversion from Delpo. But Delpo won only 14 points on Milos’ serve, as compared to Milos’ 27 return points, forcing Delpo to play 50% more service points: 90 to Milos’ 64. Delpo was lucky today, but we can’t complain: Milos has moves #10 in the Race, still has a shot at #8, and has been playing like he deserves to be in that company.

  2. Sam
    October 5th, 2013 - 02:11

    Great win for Milos!! This puts him ahead of Tsonga into 10th for the Race Rankings!! Crucial match for him tomorrow against the winner of Del Potro and Almagro. Should he win that he will be within 90 points of Wawrinka and 70 of Gasquet and striking distance of the World Tour Finals in London. Of course Gasquet is still playing this week and plays Djokovic in the semis of Beijing later on tonight.

    Draw is also out for the Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament next week. Good news is that Milos is drawn into the same R16 as Wawrinka meaning he controls his own fate with regards to passing Wawrinka next week (should they meet and Milos win they will be tied in points). The bad news is his next match would be against Nadal in the quarterfinals. At this stage I think the only two players he cannot beat when they are on are Djokovic and Nadal. I think his game can beat anyone else if he is at his best, but it will be fun to see the difference between him now and back in the Montreal final against Nadal. Let’s hope we get to see that match.

    Gasquet is drawn into the same R16 as Federer (who surprisingly may only be 175 points ahead of Milos if Milos can win tomorrow) so Milos has a good chance of catching the loser of that match. The winner of that match will face Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

    Should be a very exciting close to the season with Milos so close to the that key 8th position in the Race Rankings. Should Murray be unavailable to play in the World Tour Finals as is speculated then 9th is also a very key position to be in.

    • Sam
      October 5th, 2013 - 02:34

      Early matchups next week see Tsonga faceoff with likely Youzhny, who can be tricky, followed by Nishikori. Milos can get some help from a fellow Canadian as Pospisil will face Gasquet (tough draw for Vasek) in the first round with Gael Monfils looming in the second round. Federer has a bye followed by Hewitt/Seppi. Wawrinka has bye then Anderson. Raonic will start with a qualifier likely followed by Verdasco. Milos looks to have the easiest early round matchups of the guys he is chasing.

      Things could change though as Berdych has retired to Nadal in the semifinals in Beijing. Not sure what the cause was but if Tomas was forced to withdraw from Shanghai, I believe Gasquet would be moved into Berdych’s place in the draw, which would be a little bit unfortunate easing up both Gasquet’s and Federers draws a bit.

    • Daniel
      October 5th, 2013 - 02:36

      Any Chance Milos asking for a Wild Card in Vienna for example?

      His chances in Shanghai based on the Draw looking pretty grim.

      • JasonX
        October 5th, 2013 - 10:18

        I highly doubt he will go next week someone as he would have to play 6 weeks in a row… Anyway looks like Del Potro will play Milos in the final probably the hardest opponent he could get in the final. Hope he will manages to win to boost his chances alot!

      • Sam
        October 5th, 2013 - 11:58

        Not a whole lot to gain in Vienna. As of now he can improve on the 45 points he gained in Monte Carlo by doing well in Basel, but he would have to win Vienna to gain only 70 more points towards his ranking then. Doesn’t seem like its worth it he probably could use the week off more and focus on doing well in his final 3 tournaments.

        • wacb
          October 5th, 2013 - 22:20

          Yeah, I guess it would have to be a discussion with his team based on how his body’s feeling whether those potential points are worth it… Doubt it’s worth the risk.

          Hopefully it doesn’t, but those 70 potential points could mean a chance at all the “extra” points at the World Tour Finals. What’s great about his game is that he doesn’t have to play many long rallies- he could potentially play later in more tournaments with less “wear and tear”.

  3. wacb
    October 4th, 2013 - 22:26

    Don’t forget about that one match with Dodig at the Kooyong Classic this year! Milos won 6-4, 6-4… and their only match so far on hard courts!

  4. JasonX
    October 4th, 2013 - 09:05

    He will play Dodig next hope he can win. Gasquest is in the semi final as well but will likely lose to Djokovic next. Milos needs to win Tokyo to have any reaslistic chance to qualify. Also the Shanghai draw should be up later on so lets hope he get in his quarther Gasquet or Tsonga.

    • Sam
      October 4th, 2013 - 11:35

      Gasquet should be 9th seed next week and Milos 10th so no chance of them meeting in the quarters. Let’s hope for Tsonga or Wawrinka though with a tough draw for Gasquet.

      • JasonX
        October 4th, 2013 - 15:57

        Yes i forgot Wawrinka. Indeed but first things first. He need to win Tokyo to have any realistic chance.

  5. Daniel
    October 3rd, 2013 - 16:09

    So,
    Milos faces Lukas Lacko next and then if he wins that Nieminen or Dodig. Milos lost to both of them this year. Milos would vault into Top 10 in the Race for London if he makes the Tokyo Final.

  6. Tomaso
    October 2nd, 2013 - 04:41

    Tsonga is out: lost to I.Dodig 6-4 7-6(5). Anderson is out: Lost to Lucky Loser Lukas Lacko, who replaced LLodra. Chardy squeaked by Chiudinelli in a 3rd set tiebreak 6-6(6). Bottom line: Milos not only is now the top-dog in his half of the draw, he’s THE ONLY SEED LEFT! Next up: Chardy; after that QF – LL L.Lacko or Qualifier Roger-Vasselin; after that SF – Nieminen or Dodig. And after that, the Final. This is looking like a big opportunity. Let’s go, Milos!!

    • JasonX
      October 2nd, 2013 - 07:25

      Hope he makes it to the finals. He has a hard match against Chardy next. All in all if he makes it to the final he surely win it.

  7. Daniel
    October 1st, 2013 - 16:25

    Hopefully Milos can keep his Mojo going. Except for Tsonga (which would be tricky) Milos can beat all the other Guys. Tokyo IMO has the fastest HC on the entire Tour so that should help Milos somewhat.

  8. Renee Unger
    October 1st, 2013 - 15:56

    Thanks for providing the time diff as that is a huge help

    Go Milos!


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