Milos Raonic stuns Janko Tipsarevic in the title-round – Aircel Chennai Open 2012
Fourth seed Milos Raonic rallied past the top seeded Serb, Janko Tipsarevic, in troublesome three sets at the Aircel Chennai Open 2012 on Sunday evening. He formulated a 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(4) victory over the 27-year-old Serb to grab his second career title
at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event taking place in Chennai, India.
World number 25, Raonic, made an exceptional start of the season as he cruised to clinch the title at this first ATP World Tour event of the season. He not only earned $71,900 in prize money but also took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against the
Serb, ranked 16 spots above him in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings.
The Belgrade native, Tipsarevic, confidently entered the first set and held his opening serve to tie the scores at 1-1. He lost his concentration in the fourth game and faced four breakpoints. However, the Serb dusted away all four breakpoints he encountered
and held remaining serves to drag the set to a tie-breaker. He took an early lead in it and subsequently clinched the opener with a 7-6(4) score line in 61 minutes.
Raonic improved his game in the second set and held his opening serve to nil, squaring the scores at 1-1. The Canadian smashed powerful groundstrokes to pocket entire serves convincingly. He found three break opportunities but squandered all of them. The
youngster also blocked two breakpoints he faced and took the set to a tie-breaker. Raonic dominated in it and eventually sealed the equaliser with a 7-6(4) score in 69 minutes.
The 21-year-old Canadian kept momentum sailing into the final set and after brushing off two breakpoints in the first game, he held his opening serve to take the initial lead. Raonic failed to cash in the only break opportunity in the eighth game; however,
he held his entire serves and prolonged the set to the tie-breaker again. The Canadian swiftly went to a 5-0 lead and subsequently bagged the decider with a 7-6(4) win.
Overall, the high flying Canadian hammered spectacular 35 aces and clobbered a higher first serve share of 73 percent as compared to the Serb’s 60 percent. He also clinched 73 out of 83 points on it and prevailed throughout the match.
"It is only my second title," said the booming Canadian. "It is an awesome feeling. I created a lot of opportunities... one in each set. Tipsarevic took it away in the first set. But I took my opportunities in the second and third. My serve is a big factor
in my game... in 99 per cent of my matches. My job is to take care of my serve."
This victory will boost Raonic’s confidence for the upcoming Australian Open, first of the four Grand Slam event which will start from January 16th. He needs to smash more aces and play his original game to go far in Melbourne. However, the Canadian
should focus on his breakpoint conversion skills to overpower a top tenner easily.
Serbian number two on the other side fell to a 2-6 record in the ATP singles finals.
"Guys like Milos are special players," Tipsarevic said after the match. "It was a great game of tennis. Nobody knew till the end who would win."
However, the veteran teamed up with Leander Paes to triumph his first doubles title. They eased past fourth seeded Israeli team, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram, with a 6-4, 6-4 score line in an hour and thirteen minutes long battle.
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