Milos Raonic makes it to Memphis semifinals after defeating Robert Kendrick
Canadian tennis prodigy Milos Raonic scored his seventh consecutive victory earlier today, defeating American qualifier Robert Kendrick in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Raonic, who qualified for the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships as a wildcard, defeated
his 31-year-old opponent in a little over an hour and fifty-three minutes.
The match, although going into a tie-breaker, was by and large in Raonic’s control. He won the first set easily, scoring a 6-4 victory along with ten aces and one converted break point.
He suffered a mid-match lapse in the second set, losing one break point and winning just 38 percent of the total points; the set went to Kendrick 6-3. However, the wonderchild bounced right back in the last set to reassert his position, scoring six aces
and converting three of four break points against his opponent.
In addition to this, he also saved all four break points against himself. Raonic won 56 percent of the total points in the set, and consequently won the quarterfinal match 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The 20-year-old tennis player is quickly becoming tennis’s greatest new sensation. He has climbed up the rankings from his position of World Number 361 to become Number 59 in just one year.
Raonic won his first ATP Tour title at the SAP Open, defeating Top 10 player Fernando Verdasco in the title match. He then repeated this performance just three days later, ousting Verdasco once again in the first round of the Memphis event.
He went on to defeat former World Number 8 Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in three sets to reach the quarterfinals, where he defeated Robert Kendrick just hours ago.
Milos Raonic will now face either fourth seed Mardy Fish, or fifth seed Sam Querrey depending on the outcome of their quarterfinal match. In any case, he has qualified for the semi-finals of a significant ATP Tour tournament for the second time in a row;
it seems as if the 6’5” tall player is destined for greatness on the professional circuit.
Whether he can score a victory over Querrey or Fish remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that Miles Raonic is going places.
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