Milos Raonic slays Ze Zhang to reach the quarters – Gerry Weber Open 2012
Canadian number one, Milos Raonic, equalled the head-to-head scores with the Chinese age fellow, Ze Zhang, in the second round of the Gerry Weber Open on Wednesday. The contest was brought to an end in just over 51 minutes registering
straight set scores of 6-1, 6-1.
The opening set witnessed two breakthroughs on the trot for the fifth seed Canadian superstar. He was not tested at all on his serves so that made it very easy for him to race pass his opponent with a resounding lead of 5-1 within
half an hour. He squandered just one breakpoint of the allotted three to bag the opening set. Zhang just managed to win 10 points out of 37 contested in the opening set. The 21st ranked Canadian smashed five aces and gave no opportunity to his competitor
to break serve.
Raonic dominated the first set and the tempo was never broken in the second part of the match as well. He continued to hammer his rival with crushing forehand and backhand returns; smashed four more aces to take his tally to nine
and grabbed three out of allotted nine breakpoints to win the match with no resistance at all.
He won two of the three breakpoints at the start to post a resounding lead of 4-0 before the Chinese contender held his second serve game of the match. However, it proved to be his last as the Canadian break serve in the seventh
game to round off the proceedings.
Talking to the media representatives at the end of the match, Raonic stated, “I did what I needed to do. I was very focussed on myself, focussed on my game, and making him feel as uncomfortable as possible and trying to make him
adjust to me. Wimbledon, and also Queen’s Club and here are great tournaments always won by top players. It shows that even though it’s short, the time of the year for grass, all the top guys want to produce top tennis.”
He will most probably contest the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer, in the quarter-final of the tournament. However, the second seed Swiss star needs to avoid an upset against the German tennis ace, Florian Mayer, before booking a
quarter-final showdown with the fifth seed Canadian. It will be an epic battle especially considering that Raonic has tested the likes of Federer before this year; however, still hunts his first win against him.
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