KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - It wasn't his best match of the year but the way things have been going for Milos Raonic in 2016, it was no surprise that he found a way to pull off another victory. On a humid night, Raonic moved into the fourth round of the Miami Open on Monday with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 victory over Jack Sock.
Raonic and Sock played an even first set until the tiebreak which Raonic dominated, then the 12th-seeded Canadian broke Sock in the first game of the second set and held on for the win. The only blip in that second set came when Raonic was serving up 4-3. He faced four break points but managed to escape thanks to some wild unforced errors from the 22nd seed. After Novak Djokovic, Raonic is the hottest player on the ATP World Tour right now improving his match record to 16-2 on the year.
"Jack presented a lot of challenges and I was getting into more and more of his service games in that second set but he made me earn it," said Raonic. "Especially those last two service games of mine, he stepped it up and I'm happy with the way I dealt with that. First time playing in the evening, I think I was able to dictate more and more points as the match went on therefore it allowed me to find my game and I'm happy with the progress I was able to make."
Raonic won 78 per cent of his first serve points and had twelve aces on route to the victory. Sock had many costly errors at key times - 31 in all - and he has now lost seven of eight career meetings against the Canadian, including the past seven matches in a row.
The two players have made a habit of playing tiebreaks against each other. Including Monday's showdown under the lights, six of the last ten sets they have played have gone the distance with Raonic winning all six of them. "Thankfully I believe I have been able to win all of them so that's a huge relief. It's important for me to play well in those important moments, it allows me to find my game and I was able to play better in that second set."
A similar scenario is playing out in Miami like it did recently at Indian Wells and again it's in Raonic's favour. The bottom half of the draw is now wide open with No. 2 seed Andy Murray (who lost on Monday), No. 4 Stan Wawrinka and No. 5 seed Rafael Nadal all out of the tournament with early-round losses. It's too early to predict a possible second straight Masters 1000 Finals appearance for Raonic, but the only seed higher than him in the lower half of the draw is the sixth seed Kei Nishikori. The earliest the two could meet would be in the semifinals.
Next up however in the fourth round is unseeded Bosnian Damir Dzunhur. Raonic will face Dzunhur on Tuesday (approx 5pm et/2pm pt on TSN5), for the first time in a quick turnaround after Monday's win.
"Honestly I prefer it considering playing two out of three sets and usually having a day off in between, it's a bit of a lull," said Raonic. "I have to take care of my serve and create some opportunities on his. He fights hard, he's very quick, quick feet so expect a lot of balls back but I feel the most important thing is to dictate the centre of the court."
Notes:
Raonic is 8-1 in tiebreaks in 2016. The only one he lost was in the first set he played this year against Ivan Dodig in Brisbane.
Raonic fired a 142 MPH serve in the second set of his win on Monday night, tying John Isner for the fastest serve in the tournament so far.
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music, Soaps
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99
Babe Of The Month - Vote Now!
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month - Vote Now!
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonthman.html
No comments:
Post a Comment