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

Raonic def. Fish

It took just over two hours for Milos Raonic to defeat Mardy Fish in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. The stats for Raonic's serve were not as great as we've been used to seeing lately, but they were good enough to get the job done. He seemed to come up with aces and forced errors on the return when he really needed them. The key statistic for the match, however, wasn't the first serve % or number of aces - it was the number of break points converted. Mardy Fish was unable to convert any of the 8 break points he earned on Raonic's serve. Milos, on the other hand, was a perfect 2/2 on break chances, which was all he needed to win the match. Here are the complete stats:

First Set

Raonic faced a tough service game at 1-2 in the first set which lasted over 12 minutes. With Fish about to serve at 4-4, Raonic called for the trainer. After a quick assessment, Milos took a medical timeout so the trainer could work on his abdomen and lower back. This was obviously a tense moment for fans of Milos, since it was impossible to know the extent of the injury and how it would affect his play following the treatment.

Immediately following the medical timeout, Raonic found himself down 0-30 on his serve and had to save a break point before holding to level the score at 5-5. In the next game, Fish missed two drop shot attempts in a row to give Raonic the first break of the match. Serving at 6-5, Raonic came up with some timely winners and big second serves to hold at love and take the first set.

Second Set

Fish managed to work his way into several of Raonic's service games early in the second set. When he failed to convert a break point at 2-3, Fish smashed his racquet in frustration. On the next point, Raonic was in obvious physical distress after hitting a passing shot down the line for a winner. It was clear that Milos needed the match to be over as soon as possible.

In the timely fashion that appears to be part of Milos' modus operandi, he broke Fish in the next game to take a 4-3 lead. It wasn't smooth sailing from here on out, though. Fish was still able to earn yet another break point against Raonic, which he failed to convert. While trying to serve out the match, Milos found himself down 15-40 in a hurry. Fish refused to go away. But Raonic elevated his game at just the right time to fight his way back to deuce. He did this by coming in behind some big first serves and forcing Fish to make difficult returns. The strategy worked.

Up Next

Raonic advances to the 3rd round to face Ryan Harrison. The young American is another player currently making a breakthrough of his own at Indian Wells. Their match will likely be on Tuesday, March 15.

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Raonic out of doubles, plays Fish tonight

Raonic and his doubles team mate Feliciano Lopez must have felt they were a little unlucky when they saw who they were matched up against in the first round of doubles at Indian Wells. They were defeated by the No.1 seeded Bryan brothers in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. Despite earning 11 aces in the match, they weren't able to serve as cleanly as the Bryan brothers who had a higher first serve % and won more points on their first serve. Here are the stats from the match:

According to the schedule of play, Milos will be playing later this evening on Stadium 2. His match with No.13 seed Mardy Fish (USA) will be the lead in to a big doubles matchup between Rafael Nadal / Marc Lopez vs. Marin Cilic / Ivo Karlovic. Hopefully the Raonic vs. Fish match will be streamed somewhere online.

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Raonic def. Ilhan

Milos Raonic defeated Marsel Ilhan (TUR) in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(4). Raonic ran away with the first set, and was up by a break in the second before Ilhan broke back late in the set to force a tiebreak. Here are the match stats:

Having only the live scores ticker to go by, it's hard to get an impression of how some of the rallies and games played out. But judging by the numbers, Raonic was fairly dominant on his serve and was able to work his way into several of his opponent's service games. While Milos won a healthy majority of his first serve points (100% for the first set), getting those serves in was a bit of an issue. The ace count for the match was also a bit low, with 6 of the total 10 coming in the first set.

Those numbers will have to come up because the draw for Milos is about to get tough in a hurry. Raonic is set to play Mardy Fish (USA) who, by virtue of being the No.13 seed, has received a bye to the second round.

In other Canadian tennis news, Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) defeated Rebecca Marino in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

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Canada clinches Davis Cup tiebreak vs. Mexico

Milos Raonic took on Daniel Garza in the first of two singles matches today in Teluca, Mexico. With Canada's win in the doubles yesterday, Raonic could clinch the tiebreak for Canada in his rubber match against Garza. And he did just that, winning in straights sets, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.

Garza took the lead early in the first set after Raonic played a sloppy service game. Milos dug himself into a 0-40 hole after making a few errors, and Garza was able to capitalize on the gift. By working his way into some longer rallies, Raonic was able to get his backhand in order and clean up his game a little. Late in first set, Milos came from behind to win three straight games from 4-5 down.

Garza was visibly frustrated and disappointed when he couldn't close out the first set. Despite this, he stayed with Raonic throughout most of the second set. Raonic was able to comfortably serve his way out of trouble whenever Garza challenged him. It seemed like Garza had to fight off a break point or two in each of his service games, so it seemed inevitable that he was broken at 3-4. From there, Raonic took a 5-3 lead and held at love to take the second set.

This was when Milos began to show why he's ranked No.37 in the world. In the third set he broke Garza at love twice, exhibiting some excellent shot-making in the process. Raonic's serve improved greatly as the match progressed, earning 24 aces and winning an overwhelming amount of his first serve points (above 90%, I believe). There would be no comeback for Garza this time as Raonic ran away with the third set in a dominating performance.

In the final rubber match between Peter Polansky and Manuel Sanchez, Canada won in straight sets again, 6-4, 6-1. Since the Group tiebreak was already clinched, the last singles match was played as a best-of-three instead of best-of-five. Canada will advance to meet Ecuador in the second round of the Group 1 Americas in July. That means the Canadian team is one step closer to earning a spot in the World Group for 2012. View the results of the tiebreak here.

It was a solid performance all around by the Canadians, especially by Milos. In a post-match interview, Raonic made it clear that he was proud to play for Canada and alluded to his responsibilities as the No.1 player within the team. It's no secret that he's the best player, and it's important for Raonic to comport himself as such. This means winning the matches he's supposed to win, and he's proven this weekend that he can do just that.

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Canada victorious in Doubles

Canada just took a 2:1 lead in their Davis Cup group tiebreak against Mexico. Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil defeated Luis Dias-Barriga and Miguel-Angel Reyes Varela in a tight 4 set match, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The Mexican team came out firing in the first set, breaking Pospisil in his first service game of the match. That single break proved to be enough for Mexico to claim the first set.

Starting in the second, the Canadians started to find their range. Milos was solid on his serve (as usual) and was tough to beat at the net. Pospisil cleaned up his service games enough for team Canada to maintain control throughout the rest of the match. While the scoreline appears close, it was really Canada's match to lose when they started playing to their potential after the first set.

With the win, Canada has earned the chance to clinch their group match against Mexico in the first singles match on Sunday. Milos Raonic will play Daniel Garza starting at 12:00PM ET, which will be shown on Sportsnet One (or streamed at sportsnet.ca). If Raonic isn't able to get it done against Garza, Frank Dancevic will play Manuel Sanchez in the final rubber match of the tiebreak.

Canada has put themselves in a great position to win the tiebreak by winning the doubles match. It was a little touch and go at the start, but the guys settled down and got the job done. Garza will likely be playing with a lot of confidence coming off his spectacular comeback against Dancevic, but I fully expect Raonic to get the win. If Canada wins either of the two matches tomorrow, the team will advance to the 2nd Round of the Americas Group 1 to play Ecuador in July. Check out the Davis Cup draw here.

Here is the results page.

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