Milos Raonic ousts Alejandro Falla in the opening round – Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell 2012
Seeded 11th in the tournament, Milos Raonic of Canada dumped the Colombian challenger, Alejandro Falla, in straight sets at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell 2012 on Monday. He nudged up a 6-4, 7-6(3) victory against the Colombian veteran to power
into the second round at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 series event held in Barcelona, Spain.
The Canadian number one, Raonic, showed top notch performance to outmuscle Falla in their first encounter. He required one hour and 41 minutes getting the better of the world number 53 at this outdoor clay court event.
"It was a good step forward," Raonic, who exited from the opening round at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters last week, commented after the match. "I've been able to practice very well the last few weeks, especially last week in Monte-Carlo, but I didn't play
well in my match, which was very disappointing. Today was not the greatest of days, but I'm happy to put the win together and get it right. I feel like there's a lot I can do better so I'm happy to give myself another chance in the next round. Falla is a very
good player. My serve was key in getting the win."
Raonic assertively entered the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona and held his opening serve to level the scores at 1-1. He then continued hammering angled shots and subsequently bagged his following serves without facing any real challenge. The Canadian youngster
got the breakthrough in the ninth game and pocketed the opener by winning six games to four.
Ranked 25th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Raonic kept momentum rolling into the following set and got the desiderated break in the opening game to take the initial edge. Despite losing his edge in the very next game, Raonic
held his nerves and swiped in remaining serves with conviction. The set went to the tie-breaker where the higher ranked contestant jumped to a 5-2 lead before pulling out the victory with a 7-6(3) score line.
All in all, the Thornhill resident dominated throughout the epic battle. He clobbered a lower first serve share of 55 per cent as opposed to the Colombian’s 64 per cent but covered it up by firing seven vicious aces. He also spectacularly clicked 30 out
of 39 points on it and capitalised on two out of seven break opportunities to steal the show.
Raonic has now improved to an 18-4 win-loss record this year after earning this limelight. He conquered the Aircel Chennai Open in the start of this circuit and then went on to defend his title at the SAP Open in San Jose. The Canadian is bidding for his
fourth career title at this event.
Raonic will next face the conqueror of the match between Russia’s Igor Andreev and the Argentinean contestant, Diego Junqueira. The Canadian needs to play his original game and should capitalise on his ace firing skills in order to tumble over his next rival.
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