Milos Raonic defeats Ernests Gulbis; advances in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters
Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario eased past Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in straight sets on Tuesday. He registered a 6-4, 7-5 win over the world number 30 Latvian to advance into the third round of the 2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex
Masters.
Playing for the first time in an ATP event on clay, Raonic won his second win on it and downed the Latvian on his first meeting. He now leads the head to head series by 1-0 against Gulbis.
The rising star Raonic is in great shape this season and won the title at San Jose. He then reached the final at Memphis before losing to top seeded American Andy Roddick in troublesome three sets. The Canadian star entered
this tournament full of confidence and in the first round he overpowered French Michael Llodra in a three set thriller on his first match on clay.
Ranked at 34 in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Raonic displayed tremendous skills in the first set. He went up a break early but lost it as the Latvian tied at 2-2. He then held his remaining serves spectacularly
and broke Gulbis’ serve again for a 4-3 lead. The Canadian then clinched the set with a 6-4 victory by a service winner.
He slammed two aces, committed zero double faults and had a much better first serve share of 74 percent as compared to Latvian’s 56 percent. Raonic also registered an impressive 70 percent win on it and converted both breakpoint
opportunities to his advantage to help him win easily.
The 20-year-old Canadian carried his winning momentum into the second set and held his opening serve. He then broke Gulbis serve for a 4-3 lead but Gulbis saved three match points for a service break of his own to tie the
set 5-5. After this Raonic went on rage mode and converted his second breakpoint opportunity to his advantage to eventually seal the set with a 7-5 win.
Raonic had a lower first serve share this time but he earned an amazing 83 percent win on it. He smacked five aces to win the set in style and clobbered less unforced errors.
"I don't think I've ever done that before," Raonic said of losing five straight points. "Knowing here it's tough to get the free points with the serve ... I think I just played a sloppy first one, then after that just nerves
got a bit in the way. But I was happy with how I sort of put it all together right after. I was able to reel off a few points in a row. I just tried as best as I could to keep it under control. I'm happy with the outcome."
He will next face the winner of the match between two Spaniards, 4th seeded David Ferrer or Feliciano Lopez. Raonic lost to Ferrer in the fourth round of Australian Open.
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