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.
-multi
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.
-multi
Indian Wells qualifying (last one, I promise)
Canadian Frank Dancevik failed to advance past the second round of qualifying in Indian Wells. Alex Bogomolov Jr (USA) defeated Dancevic in three sets, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Unfortunately, that means the only remaining Canadians in the draw are Milos Raonic and Rebecca Marino. You can view the main draws for the BNP Paribas Open here.
Milos will play Marsel Ilhan (TUR) in the first round, which begins tomorrow. The women's singles event got underway today, but Marino isn't scheduled to play today. Her match against Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) will likely take place tomorrow.
-multi
Indian Wells qualifying (pt.2)
There are more results to report from the qualifying rounds at Indian Wells. First, Rebecca Marino defeated Cetkovska in three sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. With the win, Marino has earned a spot in the main draw -- the first round of which gets underway tomorrow.
On the men's side, Peter Polansky failed to advance in his qualifier today. Bopanna edged out Polansky in a close three set match, 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5. In another three-setter, Frank Dancevic was able to pull out the win over Steve Johnson, 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(4). Dancevic will play either Alex Bogomolov (USA) or Stefan Ianni (ITA) in the second round of qualifying tomorrow.
-multi
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.
-multi
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.
-multi
Canada and Mexico split singles matches
After day one of the Davis Cup Americas Group 1 tiebreak between Canada and host nation Mexico, the two teams are tied 1-1. In the first singles match, Frank Dancevic appeared to be cruising to a straight set victory against Daniel Garza after winning the first two sets easily and breaking his opponent's serve to start the third. Garza immediately broke back and, after a heated dispute over a line call that went in the Mexican's favour, the match turned around for him completely. Galo Blanco, Milos Raonic's coach, got involved in the line controversy and was eventually asked to leave the stands. Despite the spirited support of the Canadian team Dancevic couldn't regain his form against Garza, who had stepped up his game after getting broken in the third set. Garza won 2-6. 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.
Milos didn't seem to accumulate too much rust during his time off since Memphis. It was clear from the very beginning of the second singles match that Milos Raonic would be too much for Manual Sanchez to handle. Raonic broke Sanchez with devastating frequency throughout the match, while rarely being tested on his own serve. It was a nearly perfect performance by Milos, winning 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. Raonic had no problems closing out the match in convincing fashion, something his teammate Dancevic was unable to do in the first rubber.
Check out the Davis Cup results page here. Read more about the matches here.
-multi
Ferrer wins Acapulco
Top seed David Ferrer (ESP) successfully defended his title in Acapulco last night, defeating Nicolas Almagro in three sets, 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 6-2. The match was very much a back-and-forth type affair, especially for the first two sets. Ferrer jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first set before Almagro came back to force an absolutely thrilling tiebreak. The second set was also pretty tight, each player getting broken on their serve just once. Almagro was able to edge out Ferrer in the second tiebreaker and looked to carry that momentum into the third set.
But Ferrer was not deterred by losing the second set. He broke Almagro straight away and ran away with the match. Ferrer's tenacity proved to be too much for Almagro to handle. Here are the stats for the match:
Perhaps the most telling match statistic was the number of break points converted by each player. Almagro had his fair share of chances, but only managed to win 4/13 break points. Ferrer was almost perfect in this category, converting 6/7 chances. The one point he didn't convert came late in the third set when he was already ahead. Ferrer's efficiency in this department was key to winning such a tight match (well, tight for the first 2 sets anyway).
Read more about the match and what the players have to say about their performance here.
In other news, former US Open champ Juan Martin del Potro has reached his first final since coming back from injury. He'll play Serbian Janko Tipsarevic for the championship in Delray Beach later today.
-multi
No go for Dolgo
I stayed up "late" to watch the Ferrer vs. Dolgopolov match live last night (it ended shortly after 1:30AM Newfoundland time). I was looking forward to an entertaining match, given the apparent clash of playing styles that would be employed. It's hard to know what to expect from a player like Dolgopolov, but as a general rule you know that Ferrer will work hard and play a solid match.
The first set was close, but neither player was doing well to protect their serve. First serve percentages were low (Alexandr was at 43%), and service breaks were had by all. Dolgo was able to capitalize on some shaky play to capture the first set, but then the trajectory of the match started to change.
Ferrer started playing like Ferrer. He wasn't perfect, but he cleaned up his game enough to let Dolgopolov gift the rest of the match away. Dolgo made a lot of shots, but he missed even more. His inconsistency was his undoing. And you just can't afford to be inconsistent against a player like Ferrer, who ultimately went on to win the nearly 2-hour-long match 5-7, 6-1, 6-1. The stats aren't very impressive, but here they in all their ugly glory:
Top seed David Ferrer (ESP) will face fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the finals tonight in Acapulco. Almagro is currently on a history-making run -- if he can defeat Ferrer, he'll become the first player ever to win three out of the four Latin American clay tournaments in the same season. Read more about it here.
As for watching the final, Rogers Sportsnet One will be airing the match live beginning at 10:00PM ET. It doesn't look it'll be on the other regional channels, unfortunately. I was hoping to watch it in HD, as I only get Sportsnet One in standard definition here in Newfoundland.
-multi
Djokovic three-peats in Dubai
I was right -- Nole showed up.
Reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, with a total match time of 71 minutes. He has now won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships three years in a row. Here are the stats from the match:
Djokovic got off to a great start in the match, breaking Federer's serve twice in the opening set. Novak's serve was impeccable in the first set, getting 85% of his first serves in and winning 15/17 of those first service points. His serve dropped off slightly in the second set allowing Roger to open up a 3-1 lead. At this point, it looked like Federer was stepping up his level of play just as Djokovic was doing the opposite.
But that lead didn't last long. Instead of Roger holding on to force a third and deciding set, Nole set off on a mad dash for the finish line and won 5 games in a row. I guess that qualifies as an impressive way to win a championship. More on Novak's hat-trick here. As the article suggests, Djokovic appears to be the man to beat on tour this year.
Can't argue with that.
-multi