Milos Raonic slays James Blake in the third round – US Open 2012
Seeded 15th in this event, Milos Raonic from Canada, devastated the local wild card entrant, James Blake, with a bagel at the Flushing Meadows 2012. He jolted down a 6-3, 6-0, 7-6(3) success against the veteran to breeze into the fourth round
at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The Canadian top ranked star fired angled shots and exquisite forehands to outsmart Blake in almost two hours at his final of the four Grand Slam events. The players last battled each other at the SAP Open in San Jose and after bagging this match, Raonic
improved to a 2-0 lifetime in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head Series against the former world number four.
The 21-year-old assertively entered the Grandstand Stadium at this major hard court event. He dusted away both breakpoints he came across to pluck his entire serves. Raonic got the breakthrough in the sixth game and ultimately clinched the opener with a
6-3 score line.
Standing at his highest rank at number 16 in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Raonic went berserk in the proceeding set. He unleashed barrage of groundstrokes and reeled off six games in a row, eventually pulling out the set with a bagel.
Raonic maintained consistency in his game in the third set. He got the coveted break in the fifth game and jumped to a 4-2 lead. Regardless of losing his edge in the eighth game, the Canadian stayed calm and prolonged the set to a tie-breaker. He dominated
in it and consequently sealed the set with a 7-6(3) win.
The Canadian youngster will square off against Britain’s number one, Any Murray, in the re-quarters.
“If I'm serving well, I'm hitting my spots, it's about making him feel as uncomfortable as possible,” Raonic commented about his next match-up. “If I serve well, that's sort of what sort of happens. It's a ripple effect.”
The Olympic Champion rallied past 30th seed, Feliciano Lopez, in a four-set thriller to progress. Murray dominated in three tie-breakers to carve out the victory with a 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4) score line.
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