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

France takes lead in Davis Cup tie

The French team of Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra defeated Canadians Milos Raonic and Daniel Nestor in straight sets, 7-6(1) 7-6(2) 6-3. France has a 2-1 lead over Canada in their Davis Cup World Group tie.

Canada's hopes of winning the tie were dealt a serious blow with the loss in the doubles rubber. This now puts tremendous pressure of Milos Raonic in his upcoming match with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Sunday. If Raonic was able to pull out a big win over the No.6 player in the world, then there is still the possibilty of Gael Monfils stepping in for the final rubber. The tie isn't over yet, but it's going to be quite an uphill battle from here on out for Team Canada.

The first two sets of the match were rather close with no breaks of serve. Yet France was able to run away with both tiebreaks to take a two set lead in the rubber. Milos wasn't at his best and was having trouble with the first serve. Nestor and Raonic did well to stay in the match despite their overall low first serve percentage. The French team was just more consistent on the big points, which was most apparent in the tiebreaks.

The first break of serve of the match came early in the third and it went France's way. Canada couldn't get things to swing their way and was unable to get back on serve. All the momentum seemed to be with Benneteau and Llodra who were bolstered by French fans that had more to cheer about than the home crowd. France broke again to win the rubber, disappointing a lot of Canadian fans in the process.

Sunday will be a big day for singles, but it's sudden death for Team Canada. Raonic will certainly be in tough against Tsonga. That match starts at 4:30PM EST and will be live on Sportsnet. The fifth rubber will likely feature Vasek Pospisil and either Julien Benneteau or Gael Monfils. If Tsonga beats Raonic, however, it could be a dead rubber and will be a best-of-three set match instead of best-of-five.

It's crunch time, Canada.

-multi

Canada and France split opening singles rubbers

In the first singles rubber of the Davis Cup World Group tie, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dismissed Vasek Pospisil in straight sets. Milos Raonic returned the favour against Julien Benneteau, also winning in straight sets.

Canada and France are now tied with one point each heading into Saturday's crucial doubles rubber. This is exactly where Canada wanted to be after the first day. Pospisil was a huge underdog in his match against Tsonga, who is the "number two player outside the top four". The pressure was always going to be on Raonic to come up with the goods and keep things on even terms. With Daniel Nestor playing in the doubles rubber, it is a very real possibility that Canada could have the lead going into the final day of the tie.

Pospisil vs. Tsonga

The young Canadian was simply overmatched. There is little else to say. Pospisil felt his serve let him down in the match, but regardless of how he was serving Tsonga was still a clear favourite. Jo-Wilfried's serve and forehand were as powerful as ever as and he looked to be in top form as he zipped around the court making brilliant returns from very tricky places. Pospisil came up with some big wins to almost single-handedly get Canada to this World Group tie, but he had almost no chance in this match. It ended 6-1 6-3 6-3 in France's favour.

Raonic vs. Benneteau

Milos came out like gangbusters to start this match breaking Benneteau on his first service game. The entire first set was all Raonic. Not to suggest that Benneteau was playing poorly, because he wasn't. He was hitting the ball well and fighting for every point. Raonic was just too much to handle. The Canadian put the first set away easily after getting an insurance break.

Benneteau was able to stay with Raonic throughout most of the second and third sets, but in both cases Milos was able to come up a late break of serve to put the set on his racqeut. In addition to hitting over 20 aces, Raonic was almost unstoppable when he got his first serve in play. He rarely lost a point on it. Benneteau played a squeaky clean match which forced Milos to work extra hard on the return in the latter stages of their rubber. In doing so, Raonic demonstrated just how much effort he has put into his movement and the return of serve. The improvement is clear. Milos won it convincingly in straight sets, 6-2 6-4 7-5. It was quite a performance in front of a very vocal and enthusiastic Canadian crowd.

The doubles rubber will likely be the swing match for the tie. Whatever the outcome, it certainly sets up a huge fourth round singles rubber between Raonic and Tsonga.

-multi

Bonus update Saturday Morning: Here are some thumbnails from the first two rubbers (Day 1) from DavisCup.com (Tsonga, Raonic, Pospisil, and Benneteau).  Click on them to go to the originals (photos by Antoine Couvercelle):

Arash Madani snapped and tweeted a pic of a nice hockey jersey in Vancouver today.  Click on the thumbnail below to see the original tweet and 640 x 480 photo.  (I think he needs a new, higher-tech mobile phone)

Somehow, I'm still a bigger fan of the guy in a similar jersey in this photo:

Milos will be playing in the SAP Open in San Jose, California again this week, starting off with a first round bye and an exhibition doubles match with John McEnroe, Gael Monfils, and Jack Sock on Monday night.

--wacb

Raonic and Tsonga cruise to victory in Day 1 of France .vs. Canada

Both matches in today's first round Davis Cup tie between France and Canada seemed fairly easy for their respective winners.  Tsonga was on form and was able to dominate Vasek Pospisil in front of a loud, proud Canadian crowd, and Raonic kept them fired up with an impressive victory against Julien Benneteau.

Milos' victory over Benneteau was very impressive.  He was focused and on his game for the entire match.  His first serves were on, his first serve points won were on, and he even finished up with a 2nd serve ace to put away the match.  Here's the stats from DavisCup.com:

The doubles match, which is on tomorrow at 5pm Eastern Time on Sportsnet's regional channels again (but not online unfortunately), will decide who goes into the 3rd day with the lead.  Nestor and Pospisil will be taking on Benneteau and Llodra in the match.  If the veteran Nestor can lead the team to victory tomorrow, Canada will need to win at least one of both matches on Sunday (Raonic vs Tsonga followed by Pospisil vs Benneteau).  If the Canadians lose the doubles, we need both singles wins on Sunday.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that!

My gut feel tells me that we'll be watching a 5th and deciding rubber where Vasek Pospisil will have another chance to bring home the glory for Canada, and this time in front of his hometown crowd!  Hopefully he's successful again.

What do you think of Raonic's chances against Tsonga given how well he played today... leave a comment to let us know!

Go, Canada, Go!!!

--wacb

Match Live Updates Feed – Raonic vs. Hewitt on Rod Laver, 21 Jan 2012

Again, I'll be posting the updates as the match goes along here.  Update: Here's a thumbnail that links to the Globe and Mail article it came from.  It show's that awesome yellow shirt he sported in front of the huge crowd at Rod Laver Arena.

 

5:10 AM, EST

So by the time I dragged myself out of bed the first set was still on serve, and Raonic put it away with some hyper-serves to make it 3-3.  In the time I went to get a glass of orange juice, Raonic had broken.  With Raonic serving for the set, the commentator notes that he has the 6 fastest serves in the tournament, and 5 of them have come so far in the match.  Raonic took that game at love with some short rallies producing some winners.  1st set to Raonic, 6-4.

Raonic 6
Hewitt 4

5:18

So the first set seemed to be dominated my Milos in 38 Minutes, with Hewitt unable to serve and ace and apparently not in danger of breaking our man.  Hewitt came out firing in the first game of the 2nd set, as he served his first ace and brought it to 40-15 before putting it away.

Raonic 6 0
Hewitt 4 1

Here's the stats from the first set:

 

5:25

Milos is wearing a VERY bright yellow shirt in the regular, famous Lacoste tennis shirt style with his SAP logo on the right arm.  He continues to impress on Lleyton's serve, but he did hold to make it:

Raonic 6 1
Hewitt 4 2

5:30

Still on serve now at 2-2, about 15 minutes into the 2nd set.  Still scouring the Internet to see if anyone's snapped a shot of Raonic's bright yellow shirt so I can post it here...

5:35

Raonic is doing his usual best at keeping the rallies short and putting pressure on Hewitt's serve.  He brought it to 30-30, and then with a little longer rally earned a break point.

5:36

Hewitt served a stinger that Milos wasn't able to return, and followed it up with some superb net play to get a game point to hold and keep the set on serve.  Milos brought it back to deuce with a power backhand though.

5:45

Still on serve here in the 2nd set.  Apparently my infant daughter wanted to get up early to watch tennis too so I've had to get get her to watch beside me.  I think she likes Milos' yellow shirt.

Raonic 6 4
Hewitt 4 3

5:48

This looks like the best chance Lleyton has had to break so far, though he made an error to bring it back to 30-30 before Milos made his own error to give a Hewitt a break point.  On an overhand smash from the back of the court, Raonic gave Hewitt the break, though Milos thought it was close enough to use a challenge, leaving him with one remaining.

Raonic 6 3

Hewitt 4 5

5:53

Raonic hit a couple more errors, including a backhand over Lleyton's baseline just now, to give Hewitt a couple of set points.  It's unfortunate, but it looks as though a lapse of a few minutes is being well capitalized upon by Hewitt, as another long backhand error gives Hewitt the 2nd set.  He doesn't look as bothered by his string of errors as he did versus Petzschner.  Let's hope Milos can come back at full speed in the 3rd.

Raonic 6 3

Hewitt 4 6

5:57

Milos started the first game with an ace, but put an error into the net to keep it at 15-15.  It seems the commentators are crediting Hewitt with the errors that Raonic is making... they've also said that Milos has had trouble keeping his composure when things weren't going his way during his rise over the past year - I'm not sure which player keeps his composure much better than Raonic...  I think our announcer is confused.

6:02

Both players hold to make it 1-1 in the 3rd.

6:05

With Lleyton unable to put a ball in play in the entire game, Raonic holds at love.

Raonic 6 3 2

Hewitt 4 6 1

On serve...

6:08

Hewitt held to make it 2-2.

6:10

Milos seems a little tense again, 15-30 in the 5th game...

6:12

Milos put another error long to give Hewitt another break point.  2nd serve...

6:13

And it was Hewitt's turn this time, with an error into the net.  Another break point for Hewitt.  2nd serve for Raonic...

6:14

This time Hewitt tried to pass Milos down the line.  Milos got to it, but wasn't able to get it over the net, and Hewitt is up a break again... this time in the 3rd set.

Raonic 6 3 2

Hewitt 4 6 3

6:19

Raonic just played his best return game of the match by far...  earning 0-40, apparently throwing Hewitt off enough that double-faulted t0 give the break back.  On serve in the 3rd with Milos' ace count at 12.

6:24

Another touchy service game from Raonic, but he put it away with some great play when it counted after hitting deuce.

6:48

Both players holding on until the tie-break, and when I pick up the match again it's on serve, 2-2 with Raonic serving, in the 3rd set tie-break.

6:50

Still on serve until Raonic makes a double fault to give away the first mini-break.  He has to serve a 2nd serve again in the next point, and eventually put another error wide to give Hewitt three set points and eventually the 3rd set to make it 2 sets to 1.  I missed the details as I had to leave the room, but apparently he saved two set points before succombing 7-5 in the tie-break.

Raonic 6 3 6

Hewitt 4 6 7

7:45

Trying a couple of times to put my daughter down for a nap (unsuccessfully - seems she wanted to watch Milos as well!), I just finished watching an elated Hewitt give his post-match interview - what an amazing match it turned out to be.  In the 3rd set, Milos seemed to lose his focus again for games 4 and 5, giving up the break.  They stayed on serve until it was time for Hewitt to serve out the match.

They both had oppourtunities to put it away, and probably 6 or 7 deuce points.  A great lob put it away at the end, with Milos chasing it down and turning but hitting it into the net.  For Hewitt, it was probably the biggest moment for him in recent years - but for Milos, playing in the packed 15,000-seat stadium against such a tennis legend in Australia, it must have been surreal.  It probably felt like a close leafs game at ACC when they're about to win (rare - but it's happened).

Awesome work Milos, many more opportunities to play even bigger matches in future, I see for you (now perhaps I'll have time to watch those Star Wars Blu-Rays)...

--wacb