Milos Raonic makes it past Michael Llodra to the second round of 2011 Monte Carlo Masters
Canadian tennis player Milos Raonic managed to defeat Michael Llodra of France in three lop-sided sets in the first round of the 2011 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo, upsetting his opponent 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 to secure a place
for himself in the second round of the tournament. He won the match in a little over an hour and nineteen minutes, a surprisingly short time for a match which went into three sets.
Ranked World Number 35 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, Milos Raonic began the year as Number 159. His first appearance was made at the 2011 Australian Open, where he was unseeded. Despite this, the Canadian pro produced
spectacular results and defeated players Bjorn Phau, twenty-second seed Llodra and Russia’s tenth seed Mikhail Youzhny to reach the fourth round of the tournament. Although his run was put to end at the hands of seventh seed and Spaniard David Ferrer, the
spectacular appearance pushed Raonic up the charts and into the ATP Top 100.
He went on to take part in the SAP Open in February, defeating fourth seed Xavier Malisse in the first round of the event. Raonic went on to upset pros James Blake and Ricardas Berankis before Gael Monfils withdrew from their semi-final
match. The Canadian pro successfully ousted top seed Fernando Verdasco in the final of the tournament to win his first ATP title and establish himself as a pro to be reckoned with. Raonic also made it to the title match of his next event, the Cellular South
Cup, where he undid Verdasco once again and went on to defeat Radek Stepanek, Robert Kendrick and Mardy Fish before falling to top seed and former World Number 1 Andy Roddick in three tight sets. The player has been touted as Canada’s biggest tennis phenomenon,
and has received considerable attention.
The match was not, however, an easy one for the pro. He managed to take the first set easily, undoing Llodra with a flawless game and a magnificent 93 per cent of his first serve points. He also broke the French player twice to
win the opening set 6-3, and it seemed as if a straight-sets win was within his reach. However, Llodra made an unexpected recovery after his opponent took a dip in the second round and managed to defeat him without losing a single game, or letting his opponent
take one. It was a bagel victory, and it suddenly pushed the match into the area of intense competition. Fans need not have worried, however, as Raonic exacted swift revenge on Llodra by defeating him with another bagel to win 58 per cent of the total points
and to set up a 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 score-line.
The Canadian player will face Latvian Ernests Gulbis in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.
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