Milos Raonic knocks out Santiago Giraldo to move to the second round – Wimbledon Championships 2012
Canada’s rising star, Milos Raonic, left behind his unforgettable last year’s Wimbledon Championships, as he beat the world number 45, Santiago Giraldo, in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round at the All England Club
on Wednesday. The Canadian hero needed just an hour and 31 minutes of play to post win over his Colombian opponent.
Starting the match stably, Raonic and Giraldo held their serve in the first eight games, squaring off the score at 4-4. The Canadian broke the deadlock finally, as he claimed a breakthrough in the ninth one and won his next serve
to seal it 6-4.
Raonic gained an early advantage in the second set, as he struck in the opening game and consolidated on that to go up 2-0. The 22nd ranked player maintained his lead till the end, winning it 6-4.
The Canadian and Giraldo did not lose their serve in the opening six games of the third set and levelled the score at 3-3. Raonic snatched a break in the seventh and held his following serve to attain a 5-3 lead. The Colombian
reduced the trail to 4-5 by winning his next serve and that was the moment when it started to rain, taking the match to the next day. The Canadian came out firing on Wednesday and grabbed four of the five points to close it 6-4.
Commenting on the 17 and a half hour wait he had to do before serving out the contest, Raonic said, “The thing is, for me, it was pretty relaxed (overnight). I know when I start out matches, the first few games I tend to cruise
pretty easily with my serve. It doesn’t matter if the guy saw it the day before, or I’ve practised with the guy a lot of times, I can hit all the serves, so I can change my patterns around. So I went out there pretty comfortably, and that first serve I hit
well helped. I just kept going for the second serve.”
The right-hander faced some tough moments at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, as he fell on the court and injured himself during his second round match, which kept him away from the tennis court for few months.
Raonic admitted that he was a bit superstitious but still he did not think that it’s the same court and he would injure himself again this time.
The Canadian will meet USA’s 64th ranked player, Sam Querrey, in the next match.
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