Gilles Muller stuns Milos Raonic in opening round – Valencia Open 2012
Luxembourgian number one, Gilles Muller, surprised everyone after shocking the eighth seed, Milos Raonic, in straight sets at the Valencia Open 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 Series event held in Valencia, Spain. He nudged up a 7-5, 7-6(1) victory against the Canadian top ranked star to secure a spot in the second round on Wednesday.
The Luxembourgian star warded off late resistance to outsmart Raonic in their second battle against each other. The players previously fought each other at the Wimbledon Championships last season and after recording this success, Muller improved to a 2-0 lifetime in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head Series against the Thornhill resident.
The left-hander from Luxembourg made a convincing entry at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. He smoothly swiped his entire serves after blocking the lone breakpoint he came across. Muller got the breakthrough in the last game after cashing one out of two break chances and clinched the opener with a 7-5 score line.
The world number 15, Raonic re-focused in the following set. He gifted away his serve in the eighth game and went 3-5 down. However, the Canadian quickly counterattacked and snatched his break back, eventually dragged the set to a tie-breaker.
Ranked 63rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Muller sought his momentum again in the tie-breaker. He went berserk and ultimately carved out a 7-6(1) success.
On the whole, the 29-year-old withstood 16 aces and produced a better first serve share of 62 per cent as compared to his rival’s 56 per cent. He also impressively availed 40 out of 46 points on it and finished the match with 76 points.
Next in queue for Muller is the Ukrainian number one, Alexandr Dolgopolov, who dumped the Italy’s Filippo Volandri in straight sets to set up this match.
The defending champion, Marcel Granollers, will accompany the Luxembourgian. He overpowered the Czech challenger, Jan Hajek, in one hour and 50 minutes to progress. The Spaniard was broken three times and capitalised on five out of 12 break chances. He also struck eight aces and clicked the match with 74 points.
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