Rising star Milos Raonic advances into the quarters of the Estoril Open
Fifth seeded Canadian Milos Raonic trashed Portuguese qualifier Joao Sousa in straight sets on Thursday. He registered a 6-3, 6-3 win over the 22-year-old Portuguese to advance into the quarter-finals of the 2011 Estoril Open in
Oeiras, Portugal.
The Canadian started the year as World No. 156, but now ranked as No. 27. He earned his maiden ATP World Tour title in San Jose and made it to another final in Memphis earlier this season. He had an impressive 20-7 win-loss record
so far.
After an easy 6-4, 6-4 win over experienced clay courter Igor Andreev in his opening round of this tournament, Raonic entered the Estoril Court Central confidently and downed the crowd favourite Sousa in just seventy-two minutes. He has now booked his first
clay court quarter-final spot and took the lead in his head-to-head series against the Portuguese by 1-0.
After Sousa held his serve in the first game, the 20-year-old Canadian went on savage mode to reel off next four games in a row. Although he lost his serve in the sixth game but he broke back in the last game to clinch the set
with a convincing 6-3 win in thirty-four minutes.
Raonic hammered four aces and produced a higher first serve share of 68 percent as compared to Sousa’s 50 percent. He also registered an acceptable 62 percent win on it and saved one out of two breakpoints faced. The Canadian converted
three out of four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to win easily.
The Canadian booming star kept momentum rolling into the second set as he unleashed flurry of ground strokes to win the first three games in a row. He then broke the Portuguese’s serve in the sixth game to take a 5-1 lead but he
lost his serve in the proceeding game to eventually seal the set with a 6-3 score line again.
World number 254, Sousa could not come with something special in the match. He only one a single match this season so far and which was in this tournament. The Portuguese lack of experience was visible and he played many rash shots.
He committed two double faults and saved only one out of six breakpoints faced. Though Sousa converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage but this wasn’t enough to take control of the match.
Raonic will next face fourth seed Gilles Simon. The Frenchman reached this spot after slaying Argentinean Carlos Berlocq with a breadstick in one hour and twenty-four minutes later that day. 26-year-old converted four out of ten
breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to clinch the match with a 6-2, 6-1 score line.
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