Milos Raonic reaches the third round; ousts Philipp Petzschner – Australian Open 2012
Canadian tennis prodigy, Milos Raonic, continues to impress the tennis viewers all over the world, as he won his second round matchup against the German veteran, Philipp Petzschner, on Thursday. The world number 25, Raonic, took
two hours and 55 minutes of play before settling the four-setter in his favour at 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, to clear the second round of the Australian Open.
Seeded at number 23 in tournament draw, Raonic exhibited another display of sheer brilliance and precise hitting to overwhelm the world number 63 in an emphatic fashion. The 21-year-old took the upper hand early in the contest,
clinching the opening set with ease but Petzschner made his way right back in the game by pocketing the following set after a close contest. The Canadian reeled off the next two sets to continue his unbeaten run at the 2012 ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
season.
The big-serving Canadian merely delivered 54 per cent of his serve on target but fired 17 cracking aces to his opponent’s court and secured 54 out of 67 first serve points en route to victory. Petzschner bettered him by winning
58 out of 73 points but failed to match Raonic in terms of breaking serves. The German had 11 break opportunities but he converted just two out of them, whilst Raonic stung five out of seven break points to drive him out of the competition in style.
The world number 25 registered the first serve break of the day in the opening game of the match and held his serve to get to 2-0 lead early. Raonic kept winning his serves and cruised through the games to win the opener at 6-4.
The German veteran held on to his entire serves in the following set and a crucial break point conversion from him in the 12th game closed out the second set at 7-5.
Raonic shifted gears in the following sets and adopted a more aggressive strategy to take down Petzschner. The Canadian cashed in most of his opportunities in time and kept the momentum sailing to bag the next two sets at 6-2,
7-5, marching into the third round of the Australian Open.
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