Fernando Verdasco defeats Milos Raonic in the first round of Internazionali BNL d’Italia
World number seventeen Fernando Verdasco continued to display brilliant tennis skills this season as he defeated Milos Raonic of Canada in the first round of the 2011 Internazionali BNL d’Italia at Foro Italico in Rome, Italy on
Sunday.
The determined Spaniard pro performed exceptionally well and concluded his straight sets victory 6-4, 6-4, taking not more than one hour of play. He now moves on ahead to face Robin Soderling of Sweden in the second round of the
tournament.
The rising star from Canada, Raonic didn’t put up a great fight against Verdasco and surrendered to the former top 10 player in the opening round of the match. The Spaniard broke Raonic’s serves early in sets and never looked in
danger against the Canadian who moved up from 156th to 25th in the ATP (Association of tennis Professionals) singles rankings since the beginning of the year.
The first set was a brilliant exhibition of serves from the Spaniard whereas the Canadian just couldn’t get at it. Verdasco scored 81 percent of points on his first serves and 33 percent behind his second serves. Raonic on the
other hand, looked a bit in trouble as Verdasco manoeuvred his way to 100 percent break points. Raonic kept struggling and smacked three aces in an attempt to put the Spaniard under pressure but Verdasco just didn’t look like he was going to miss his chances.
The Canadian clattered down a forehand to go 3-4, but he remained unable to pick up big points against Verdasco. The San Jose champion was doing his best to stay with the Spaniard but he couldn’t hold his serve and lost the first set 4-6.
The second set followed the same pattern with Spaniard’s dominion in every department. However, it was a confident start from the Canadian who landed with two aces in an attempt to put the Spaniard under pressure. The Spaniard
smashed a flowing forehand winner down the line and wrapped up the first game with an ace. The Canadian pro was really struggling hard and managed to raise his first serve winning percentage to eleven percent. Verdasco on the other side of the net was just
brilliant as he scored a whopping 85 percent behind his first serves to take the lead 5-4. Raonic saved two of three breakpoints in an attempt to pump himself up, but he needed to pull something more than a rabbit out of the hat to stop Verdasco in that form.
The Spaniard made a blistering forehand winner down the line followed by 100 percent breakpoints to close out the set 6-4.
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