Milos Raonic upset by Marcos Baghdatis in the round two – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012
Canada’s young star, Milos Raonic, lost a tough battle against the former world number eight from Cyprus, Marcos Baghdatis, in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Both players served so well that all three sets had to be decided on tie-breakers. Raonic lost the opener, clinched the second one but went down in the third, losing the encounter 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-7(3), after a hard fought battle
of two hours and 40 minutes.
Raonic entered this event on the back of runners up showing at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. The Canadian star stunned the top seed and world number three, Andy Murray, in the semi-final but went down against Japan’s
Kei Nishikori in the title match.
In the first set, Raonic and Baghdatis were almost flawless on their serves, as they did not drop even a single one till the end and took the score to 6-6, forcing a tie-breaker. The Canadian and his Cypriot rival went neck to
neck till 4-4 but then the latter clinched three points in a row to close it 7-6(4).
Proceedings of the second set went in a similar manner to the opener in the first half, as both players held their serves to equalise the score at 3-3. Raonic managed to clinch first break of the encounter in the seventh to move
ahead 4-3 but Baghdatis hit back immediately to even it out at 4-4. The following four went with serves to take it to 6-6 and another tie-breaker. This time, Raonic raced to a 5-2 lead and made the most of it to win 7-6(5).
Baghdatis and Raonic kept on holding their serve with comfort in the first 10 games of the decider, square off the score at 5-5. The Cypriot national stung a break in the 11th to go up 6-5 but he could not consolidate
on it, losing his next serve and taking it to another tie-breaker. First four points went with serve but then Baghdatis grabbed five of the subsequent six to triumph 7-6(3).
The 2006 Australian Open finalist will meet the fifth seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the third round.
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