Milos Raonic outmuscles Ernests Gulbis in round one – Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012
Fourth seeded Milos Raonic stomped over the Latvian ace, Ernests Gulbis, in straight sets at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012 on Wednesday. He brushed off early resistance to register a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory to reach the second round at this ATP
(Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 series event taking place in Memphis, United States.
The high flying Canadian, who came off winning his second year-to-date title at the SAP Open in San Jose, made an impressive start at the Racquet Club of Memphis. He fired 15 aces and broke the 23-year-old’s serve twice to pocket this match. After earning
this one and half hour long success, Raonic not only improved to a 2-0 FedEx ATP Head 2 Head record against the Latvian but also secured a place in the round of 16.
The world number 35, Raonic, thundered into the opening set and after earning two serve breaks, he leaped to a 5-1 lead. He then held his serve once more and pulled out the opener by winning six games to two. The youngster warded off all three breakpoints
he faced and converted two out of three break chances to his advantage.
The 21-year-old carried his momentum from the first set into the second set and held his serve to level the scores at 1-1. Raonic saved the only breakpoint he came across but failed to seek any break opportunity, subsequently imposing a tie-breaker. He dominated
in it and clinched the set with a 7-6(3) score line.
All in all, the booming Canadian took full advantage of the several unforced errors and seven double faults Gulbis spilled. He quickly swiped in his entire serves after amazingly manifesting 31 out of 37 points on it.
Next in queue for the unstoppable youngster is the Ukrainian challenger, Sergiy Stakhovsky, who trashed the local qualifier, Robert Kendrick, in straight sets to set-up this meeting. The 26-year-old cashed in the only break chance to bag the opener with
a 6-3 win. He maintained consistency in his game in the following set and prevailed in the tie-breaker, ultimately registering a 7-6(6) score line.
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