Raonic loses to Petzschner in Halle but advances to the doubles final with Robin Haase
Philipp Petzschner (GER) defeated Milos Raonic in three sets at the Gerry Weber Open, 6-3 6(6)-7 6-3.
With the crowd behind him, Petzschner seemed to make everything in the first set. Milos was having a less than stellar performance on his serve, but he only faced one break point throughout the opening set. Unfortunately, Petzschner converted the point and put the set away in less than 30 minutes.
Raonic began to turn things around in the second set. He started to earn more free points off his serve, and was able to work his way into Petzschner's service games a little more frequently. Milos had multiple opportunities to break but the set ultimately had to be decided in a tiebreak. Petzschner jumped out to a 5-2 in the breaker before Raonic battled back and won it. The German was not pleased.
All the first serves in the world couldn't have prevented Petzschner from getting the early break in the third, who strung a few amazing points together to open up a 0-40 lead on Milos' first service game. From there, the German denied Raonic any chance of getting back on serve by continuing to serve well and put points away by approaching the net. The serve-volley technique was working for Petzschner, who always seemed to have an answer whenever Milos tried to pass him.
For his first ATP tour grass court event, Milos has shown a lot of potential. It is easy to forget just how inexperienced the Canadian is at this level, especially when we have such high expectations for him. Against most players, the serve alone would have been more than enough to get the job done today, but Petzschner was simply too good on too many points. More on the match here. Video recap from gerryweber-open.de here.
Of course, Raonic is still in the doubles draw in Halle, and his semi-final match with Haase is scheduled for later today.
-multi
Milos Raonic & Robin Haase advance to finals with defeat of Aussie duo of Lleyton Hewitt & Peter Luczak 6(6)-7, 7-6(4), 10-5
With Raonic and Hewitt both having lost in their singles quarter-final matches earlier in the day, they battled with their doubles partners, Haase and Luczak respectively, to avoid a second loss. While the Australians were able to win the first set tiebreak, the Dutch & Canadian duo stepped it up in the second half of the game to win with a final score of 6(6)-7, 7-6(4), 10-5.
from ATPWorldTour.com
Raonic & Haase will play in the finals on Sunday versus the winner of the other semi-final to be played on Saturday between the team of Rohan Bopann of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan and the home-team German hopefuls of Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber. Of course, Kohlschreiber will play his semi-final singles match tomorrow as well... in fact the German fans will have a lot to cheer for tomorrow, with a German in all the semi-final matches on the order of play for the day.
- WACB
Milos Raonic to face Philipp Petzschner in Quarter-Final at Halle
Quarter-Final Match Preview - Milos Raonic versus Philipp Petzschner at Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany
Milos Raonic will face Philipp Petzschner (GER) in the quarter-finals at Halle on Friday, 10 Jun, at 12 noon local time in Halle, Germany (6 am Eastern Time) on Court 1. EDIT: Rogers Sportsnet will be broadcasting the match live on Sportsnet ONE and on sportsnet.ca (click here for live tennis stream on sportsnet.ca).
We can expect Milos to continue to try and play short points since he is scheduled to play in the doubles semi-final on Court 2 with Dutch partner Robin Haase about 5 hours later (not before 10:30 am Eastern Time).
Video highlights of Raonic's defeat of Kamke (GER) in 2nd round
Video highlights of Milos' 2nd round victory is available here: http://video.gerryweber-open.de/media.1168.2.113.html . On display is some good serving - which is cool in any language - but you will definately get more out of the video if you speak German...
Video of the highlights of Petzschner's victory yesterday over Gimeno-Traver (ESP) here: http://video.gerryweber-open.de/media.1171.2.113.html .
Interviews - Petzschner focusing on Raonic's serve while Raonic still feeling confident and positive about his grass court experience...
When asked about Milos in the post-match interview, Petzschner mentioned (article):
I shall try to get a video tape of his match," Petzschner said, "I want to study where he prefers to serve."
Petzschner mentioned he has used the tactic of studying where players like to serve in the past with success, but I'm not sure how much of a help it will be with potential speeds in the 140 mphs. (full interview with Petzschner here)
Milos said that playing on the grass is special: "Just the way it suits my serve. I got a few more unreturned serves, that helps." He mentioned he has enjoyed the tournament very much and will be putting it on his schedule for next year, health permitting.
He mentioned that he's going to continue to focus on the things he has control over in his match against Petzschner and when asked about the German crowd's support for their countryman he said "I can’t control the crowd. Obviously it’s very important for the crowd to support a national player. I would want Canada to do that for me, to make it a bit tougher for the other guy when I’m playing at home." (full interview with Milos Raonic)
You definately don't have to worry about us cheering for you Milos! I expect we will see unprecedented Canadian support at this year's Rogers Cup.
Despite great performance, Milos is probably not winning over a lot of fans in the German crowd
I guess this to be true because up to this point, more than half of the players defeated by Raonic (3 of 4 in doubles, 1 of 2 in singles) have been Germans. Milos' singles match tomorrow morning will be against another local hopeful, although Mayer and Kohlschreiber are also in their own quarter-final matches, so 3 of 4 of the QFs have a German player - no doubt it's great for the tournament.
Broadcast / Webcast?
I'm not sure whether Rogers Sportsnet will be covering the match on Friday, it is not listed on their online schedule. At the very least, it should be on court 1 so it will have to be streamed somewhere either legally or otherwise... I will update if I hear that Sportsnet will be covering it on TV. EDIT: This just in (via @Tennis_Canada tweet)! Rogers Sportsnet will be broadcasting the singles match live on Sportsnet ONE and on sportsnet.ca (click here for live tennis stream on sportsnet.ca). The doubles match to follow afterwards will most likely not be covered since it is scheduled for court 2...
- WACB
Milos Raonic and Robin Haase advance to Doubles Semi-Final in Halle
Raonic / Haase defeated Meffert / Zverev 6-3, 6-4 at Gerry Weber Open
Milos Raonic continued his success on the grass this morning with a straight-sets doubles victory in Halle alongside Dutch partner Robin Haase, 6-3, 6-4.
The match wasn't televised as far as I could find, but from the stats it looks like Raonic and Haase played a slightly more solid game than their German opponents in every regard.
from ATPWorldTour.com
Milos Raonic and Robin Haase to face Aussie hopefuls Hewitt & Luczak in Semi-Final match in Halle
The Dutch & Canadian duo moves on to face the Aussie team of Lleyton Hewitt and Peter Luczak in the semi-finals. EDIT: Raonic & Haase will play Hewitt & Luczak on Friday, 10 June, at 10:30 am Eastern Time (4:30 pm CEST) on Court 2 in Halle. Milos will have played his singles quarter-final match about 5 hours earlier that morning, so he will be warmed up and loose, but depending on how the match goes, he may also be tired...
- WACB
Raonic def. Kamke in straights
Milos Raonic defeated Tobias Kamke (GER) in straight sets at the Gerry Weber Open today, 7-6(2) 6-3.
Milos hit an ace on his very first serve of the match, setting the pace early on for his service games. Everything was going the way of the server in the opening set, with most games being completely one-sided. Raonic had a slight opening of 0-30 at one point, but Kamke promptly served his way out of trouble. A tiebreak seemed inevitable until Kamke earned a break point chance with Milos serving at 5-6. The German's hopes for stealing the set before the tiebreak were quickly dashed by a bombing serve from Raonic. A few terrific volleys tipped the breaker in Raonic's favour, winning it 7-2 without losing a point on his serve.
The match tightened up after the first set. The points became longer and more contested, and both players began showing more variety during the rallies. Raonic got his first chance to break on Kamke's second service game. After a relatively lengthy rally, Raonic came to the net forcing Kamke to hit a topspin lob. It landed long, and Milos got the first break of the match to take a 3-1 lead in the second. Raonic looked great serving out the match at 5-3, holding at love to take the match and secure a spot in the quarter-finals.
While the sheer dominance on serve was a major factor for Raonic, he also displayed some skills at the net when coming in behind heavy forehands and serves. Milos made some nice volleys at key points throughout the match, and he often used the backhand slice very effectively to break the rhythm of the baseline rallies. In short, everything seems to be working for Milos on the grass.
-multi
UPDATE: Milos will face Philipp Petzschner (GER) in the quarter-finals in Halle. That match isn't scheduled for tomorrow, but Raonic will be playing doubles with Robin Haase on Court 2 while the other half of the singles draw is being sorted out on Center Court.
Milos Raonic Update – Day 2 of Gerry Weber Open
A very successful day for Milos in Halle, Germany
Singles Preview
Early Rounds
As reported below, Milos won his opening match this morning versus Pablo Andujar, 6-3, 6-1. His next opponent is Tobias Kamke of Germany (Head-to-Head), who he has never faced before.
3rd Round (Quarter-Finals)
If Milos were to win that match versus Kamke, his potential quarter-final opponents include Philipp Petzschner (GER) or Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP), ranked 71 and 56 respectively. Milos hasn't played either of them before.
Semi's and Finals?
The top seed in Milos' half of the draw is Tomas Berdych (CZE), who is currently down a set versus Ruben Bemelmens (BEL) and are approaching a 2nd set tiebreak... If Berdych were to be upset in his first-round match, potential other semi-final opponents include Viktor Troicki (ranked # 12) or Igor Andreev (ranked # 83). Raonic has never played Troicki before but has a 1-1 record against Igor Andreev, most recently in Estoril on the clay where Milos won 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round.
In the other half of the draw we have last year's champ, Lleyton Hewitt, as well as Monfils, Dodig, Dolgopolov, Kohlschreiber, and Florian Mayer. Roger Federer was top seed at the tournament until he pulled out at the last minute, much to the delight, surely, of many of the other players but much to the disappointment of the German fans and the tournament organizers (link).
Doubles Preview
1st Round
Milos and his doubles partner, Robin Haase of The Netherlands, defeated Florian Mayer (GER) and Rogier Wassen (NED) this morning 5-7, 6-3, 10-4. This is the first time Milos has played with Haase - he hasn't had great results in the past with his usual doubles partner, Nico Almagro.
... and beyond
Milos' next doubles match will be against a German wildcard duo (Meffert / Zverev) in the quarter-finals. If successful, his semi-finals match will be against either the Australian duo of Hewitt and Luczak, or team Butorac / Rojer. Possible finalists from the other side of the draw include Troicki, Kohlschreiber, Monfils, and Brown.
- wacb
Raonic’s Record on the Grass Courts
Milos Raonic's previous matches on the grass surface (all two of them)
Before today's victory, Milos' only grass court matches, including qualifiers, challengers, futures, and all ATP events, were 1 win and 1 loss in the qualifying round of the ATP 250 event in Newport, RI, last year. He made it to the 2nd round of qualifiers at the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, which is the only professional ATP tournament played on the grass surface in North America.
from ATPWorldTour.com
... A perfect example of Milos Raonic's immense improvement over the past year
Of note in these results is that Milos hit only 3 aces in his first match and 2 aces in his second match - taking home a grand total $360. Now, almost a year later, he has risen in rank by 250, and hit 12 aces in his 3rd match ever as a main-draw seeded player on the grass versus a much more highly ranked opponent (Andujar), and has already won over a half a million dollars ($500,000) in 2011.
The opponent he defeated (Klein) in that qualifying round has risen in the rankings by 12, while the opponent that defeated him (Bubka) has risen by 105 in the ranking; impressive, but nothing compared to Raonic's "meteoric" rise.
More to follow?
Given the near-perfect marriage of grass court playing conditions and Milos' strengths, this month of grass court competition should prove very rewarding for Milos and us, his fans. We should prepare to be impressed!
- WACB
Raonic through to second round in Halle
Milos Raonic defeated Pablo Andujar (ESP) in straight sets at the Gerry Weber Open today, 6-3 6-1.
As you would expect, Milos came out serving very effectively on the grass. He hit seven aces in the first set, and didn't face a single break point. Raonic took the lead late in the set, and got a second break to take the first set 6-3.
After holding to start the second, Raonic broke Andujar right away to go up 2-0. Milos backed this up by holding at love in the following game. It looked like the wheels were falling off for Andujar. Milos would take the set 6-1 after getting another break and racking up another five aces, bringing the match total to 12. I think it is safe to say that Milos is happy to be off the clay and playing on a surface that is more complimentary to his style and serving strengths. Match stats from ATPWorldTour.com:
Raonic will face Tobias Kamke of Germany in the second round. The two have yet to meet at the ATP level, but Kamke defeated Milos at the Granby National Bank Challenger tournament last year.
In other news, Daniel Nestor has reportedly stated that he would like to play doubles with Milos Raonic at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. Needless to say, that's a very exciting prospect. After all, Nestor himself just won the men's doubles title at the French Open with Max Mirnyi. We likely would have seen the two team up in Davis Cup play earlier this year, but Nestor had to pull out due to injury.
-multi
Canadians Qualify for Roland-Garros; Raonic Draw Preview
Canadians Frank Dancevic and Aleksandra Wozniak qualified for the main singles draws at Roland-Garros today.
Two Canadian women began the day hoping to qualify for the main draw. Wozniak was able to get it done in straight sets over Jamie Hampton (USA), 7-5 6-3. Stephanie Dubois easily won the first set of her match against Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP), but things turned around for the Spaniard when she won the second set in a tiebreak. Dubois would lose in three sets and thus will not be joining Wozniak in the main the draw.
On the men's side, Dancevic won in convincing fashion over his Romanian opponent, Victor Crivoi, 6-1 6-3. Dancevic will face Simone Bolelli (ITA) who also advanced through the qualifying rounds to earn a spot in the main draw. Their career head-to-head is even at one match a piece, but they haven't played each other since 2008.
Milos Raonic, who has been seeded No.26 in the tournament, will play Michael Berrer of Germany in the first round at the French Open.
Berrer is currently ranked 94 in the world, and reached a career high ranking of 42 last year. Raonic and Berrer are separated in age by 10 years, and they have never faced each other at the ATP tour level or in a Grand Slam. Berrer is a tall lefty who has had some success playing doubles on clay, so he may prove to be a tough opponent for Milos in the first round.
Looking ahead, Raonic is in (4) Andy Murray's section of the draw. Raonic could meet Murray (GBR) in the third round, which would be a huge match to say the least. Other names of note in this section of the draw are (21) Alexandr Dolgopolov, (8) Jurgen Melzer, and (11) Nicolas Almagro.
As it turns out, Rebecca Marino and Aleksandra Wozniak have been placed in the same section of the women's singles draw. Marino is set to play Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) and Wozniak will face Junri Namigata (JPN) in the first round.
The tournament itself gets underway this Sunday, May 22. TSN and TSN2 will have coverage throughout the 2-week event at Roland-Garros beginning on the main network at 1PM ET on Sunday. There is also a French Open preview show scheduled for 11AM ET on Saturday on TSN.
-multi
Milos Raonic: The Article
Here's a great article by Rachel Brady from the Globe & Mail. It's another "Brief History of Milos" detailing the early days when Raonic used to get up early in the morning to get some training in before school started. It's a very Canadian story, except in this case it's tennis practice instead of hockey practice.
And I think we have a new nickname for Milos:
In jest, Mr. Raonic calls his son “The Tennis Project” because this journey has been no one-man endeavour.
If that nickname doesn't catch on, I may use it for the name of my progressive rock band. Expect the debut double-album, entitled "The Canadian Missile", to hit shelves sometime in late 2024.
The Raonic / Verdasco Saga: Part 4 – Fernando Strikes Back
Fernando Verdasco defeated Milos Raonic at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, 6-4 6-4.
Milos wasn't serving well to start the match. The first serve % was low and he was having a tough time winning points off his second serve. Raonic faced 4 break points against him in the first game alone before he was able to hold. The opposite was true for Verdasco, who was serving lights out. With Milos serving at 1-1, Verdasco earned two more break chances and converted on the second one to take the early lead. Toward the end of the set, Raonic settled down and was having an easier time holding his serve. But he was still down a break when Verdasco was serving for the set at 5-4. Verdasco didn't give Raonic any chance of getting back on serve and held comfortably to take the set. Milos hit only 3 aces during the set.
The serve was looking much better for Milos to open the second set, but Verdasco was still contesting every point. But Raonic's serve would drop off again in his next game, resulting in Verdasco getting the break and a 2-1 lead. Things weren't looking good for Milos at this point. Raonic had an opportunity to turn things around with Verdasco serving at 3-2, but was unable to convert on break point. Verdasco continued to serve well throughout the set and never allowed Raonic to have an easy service game.
The single break of serve in Verdasco's favour proved to be the difference in the second set, just as it was in the first. It just wasn't Raonic's day. With the win, Verdasco levels his head-to-head record against Raonic at 2-2. The Saga continues...
That's two weeks in a row that Milos has had tough opening round matches in ATP 1000 events. Despite going out in the first round in Madrid and Rome, he's had an impressive clay court season. As far as I'm concerned, he's exceeded expectations. Let's not forget, Roland-Garros is just around the corner.
Now time to focus my attention on the rest of the Nadal / Djokovic final in Madrid...
-multi
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