2011 French Open: Michael Berrer stuns Milos Raonic to advance into the second round
German Michael Berrer upset twenty-sixth seeded Canadian Milos Raonic in a four set thriller to advance into the second round of the 2011 Roland Garros, second of the four Grand Slam event held in Paris, France. He registered a
6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over the 20-year-old Canadian on Monday.
Meeting for the first time, Berrer, ranked 95 in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, displayed his exceptional skills to overpower the Canadian, ranked 68 places above him, in two and half hours.
The lower ranked German showed his class at Zagreb where he reached the final but since then, his form has dipped steeply. Regardless of having a disappointing season so far, he entered Stade Roland Garros confidently and downed
a seeded player in the first round match.
The 30-year-old stormed into opening set and held his entire serves with exquisite forehands. Berrer produced an equal first serve share of 60 percent but registered an amazing 83 percent win on it. He also slammed four aces and
hit twelve winners and the one breakpoint opportunity he converted to his advantage led him clinched the set with a 6-4 win.
The youngster re-focused in the game in the second set and exchanged a break early on to level the scores. Despite clobbering twelve unforced errors and more double faults, he broke the German’s serve in the end to pocket the set
with a 6-4 score line.
Berrer got back on track in the third set and produced 70 percent of first serve share which was much better than Raonic’s 58 percent, earning an impressive 68 percent win on it. He saved both breakpoints faced and converted the
only breakpoint opportunity to his advantage to seal the set with a 6-4 win.
The German carried his winning ways in the fourth set and held his entire serves comfortably. He then converted the only breakpoint opportunity to his advantage to win the set with a 6-3 win in forty minutes. Berrer took full advantage
of the fourteen unforced errors the Canadian clobbered.
The booming star Raonic on other hand was in superb form this season as he won the title at San Jose. He then extended his winning streak to 9-0 after trashing fourth seeded American Mardy Fish in the semi-final at Memphis. However,
after retiring from semi-finals at Estoril due to low back injury, his form fell. He hasn’t recovered from it and is now standing on a four match losing streak after this defeat.
Berrer will next face the winner of the match between French wild card entrant Arnaud Clement and Italian Filippo Volandri.
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