Milos Raonic rallies past Philipp Petzschner to reach round two – Gerry Weber Open 2012
World number 21, Milos Raonic, took revenge of the last year’s loss at Halle at the hands of the 28-year-old German, Philipp Petzschner, in straight sets 7-5, 7-6(1). It was the opening round match of the Gerry Weber Open contested
on eve of Monday.
Strong resistance was shown by the 144th ranked German despite falling victim to 19 aces of the Canadian. He stood firm for an hour and 24 minutes; battling it out to give some glory to the local fans. However, he was
unable to repeat the heroics of the last year’s quarter-final clash in Halle where he trashed the 21-year-old Canadian in an epic three-setter.
Raonic has won three matches against the German ever since her loss in Halle to him last year. The fifth seed Canadian defeated Petzschner in the second round of Stockholm Open 2011 and Australian Open 2012. This triumph makes
it 3-1 in favour of the Canadian youngster in the head-to-head series with the German wildcard entrant.
The opening set witnessed a gruelling battle between the two players. However, none of them could gain advantage of the other and failed to generate an opportunity to break serve for the first 11 games. Finally, the pressure had
a better of the German who slipped a crucial point on his serve to allot a breakpoint to the Canadian.
The difference of just four points in the end separated the two contenders in the opening set. It was the Canadian who bagged 33 points; smashed six aces and converted the only breakpoint of the set. He stole the win at the end
and that just sunk the confidence of his rival a bit.
Both players capitalized on their serves in the second set as well. No breakpoints were contested throughout the second part and that enforced the tie-breaker round into play. It seemed like this clash will go down the wire, into
three sets but Raonic took three early mini-breaks and closed all doors of comeback for the German.
On his triumph, the Canadian stated, “I’m just trying to gain experience on this surface. Last year I felt I played really well leading into Wimbledon before that unfortunate incident. I feel this should be a good surface for me;
it should suit my game and I’m trying to make the most of it. It’s a benchmark to see where I am. I feel I am a much better player than last year. It gives me confidence to play this well so early in the tournament, just having come off clay.”
Next up for the Canadian is the Chinese qualifier, Ze Zhang.
Tags: