Milos Raonic upsets Andy Murray in the quarter-final – Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell 2012
Canada’s rising star, Milos Raonic, captured his first victory over a top-four player, as he stunned second seed, Andy Murray, in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(3) in the quarter-final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in Spain on Friday.
Raonic and Murray made a stable start to the match, as they did not lose their serve in the first six games of the first set and squared off the score at 3-3. The 21-year-old made first breakthrough of the contest in the seventh
game and consolidated on it to take a 5-3 lead. Serving for the set and 5-4, the Canadian did not lose any point to snatch it 6-4.
The right-hander, Raonic, inflicted most of the damage on his opponent with the help of first serve, winning 15 of the 16 points on them and also bombarding eight aces in the opener. The Canadian did not provide Murray any opportunity
to break and utilised one of the two of his own.
In a similar fashion to the opener, both players started steadily in the second set, winning their serve in the first eight games to take the score to 4-4. Raonic succeeded in breaking Murray but could not finish it off, evening
out the proceedings at 5-5. The set was taken to a tie-breaker, as both players held their serve to level the score at 6-6. The Canadian rose to the moment and allowed Murray to win just three points, closing it 7-6(3).
Raonic continue to bombard Murray with blistering first serves, banging in six aces and converting 23 of the 29 first deliveries into points in the second set.
It took Raonic an hour and 44 minutes to come out victorious from the match.
The Canadian said, talking to the reporters after the match, "It's very, very difficult and a big plus in confidence for me. Clay's not his best surface, but he consistently does well on it. Last year he reached the semi-finals
at the French Open, Monte-Carlo and Rome, so he can play really well on it. For me, it was a big win, regardless of the surface.”
Commenting on the moment when he dropped his only serve during the match, Raonic said, "I was playing really well up till that point. He played really well the next game at 5-5. I didn't really have any opportunities and I was
fortunate that I served well again in the next game then played a good tie-break."
The 11th seed is drawn to face one of the home favourites, David Ferrer, in the semi-final.
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