Juan Monaco rallies past Milos Raonic to reach pre-quarters – French Open 2012
Seeded 13th in the tournament, Juan Monaco, got the better of the top Canadian, Milos Raonic, in a five-set nail-biter at the Roland Garros 2012 on Saturday. He juggled up a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 victory against the 21-year-old to labour into the fourth round at this second of the four Grand Slam event held in France.
The ultra-fit Argentine took down Raonic in an almost five hour-long venture and convincingly advanced into the round of 16 at this prestigious clay court tournament.
Both contenders displayed brilliant tennis in the opening set but the Canadian youngster was clearly the better one. Raonic clobbered a lower first serve share but hammered 17 winners to pluck his entire serves. However, he failed to seek any break opportunity and took the set to the tie-breaker. The Canadian edged past his rival in it and clinched the opener with a 7-6(5) score line.
Monaco rebounded in the following set and swiftly kept his entire serves after brushing off the lone breakpoint he came across. He cashed in the only break opportunity in the sixth game and manipulated a 6-3 success.
The world number 22 sought the winning track again in the third set. He fired 20 winners and five vicious aces to keep all of his serves. Raonic was unsuccessful in breaking his rival’s serve but dominated in the tie-breaker to pull out the set with a 7-6(5) score line.
Ranked 15th in the South African Airways ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Rankings, Monaco re-gained his strength in the fourth set. The Argentine swiped in his entire serves after dusting away all three breakpoints he faced and got the breakthrough in the second game to pocket the set by winning six games to three.
The Argentinean number two carried his rhythm in the final set and after earning the coveted break in the third game, he leaped to a 3-1 lead. Monaco then kept his remaining serves with poise and pulled out the decider with a 6-4 score line.
Next challenge for Monaco is the king of clay, Rafael Nadal.
"He's one of the players I really like on the tour. I really get on well with him," the Spaniard commented of Monaco. "We know each other very well, personally speaking, but also from the point of tennis. We spend a lot of hours together. We practise very often together. So we both know what we're going to try and do when we play together. We'll try and be very aggressive. We'll try and speed up and change gears. And we'll see who's going to win."
The defending champion squeaked past the Argentinean qualifier, Eduardo Schwank, with a breadstick to set up this battle.
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