Milos Raonic won the battle of three
tie breakers to lift trophy at Aircel Chennai Open defeating top seeded Janko
Tipsarevic 6-7 7-6 7-6. It was a nerve wrecking encounter in which neither
player was a clear cut winner at any point of time before the final set tie
breaker. Raonic served 35 aces during the three sets.
Tipsarevic won the toss and elected
to receive, something that would favour his opponent. Raonic served
unreturnable serves and took the first game 40-15. Three of his serves were above 215
kmph, which was an indicator of things to come in the match. Tipsarevic also
took his game at the same score courtesy two unforced errors from Raonic. The
pattern was set wherein Raonic will concentrate on serve and Tipsarevic, on not
committing many errors. It was in the fourth game that Tipsarevic committed his
first unforced error while attempting a winner. Raonic got three consecutive
break points but Tipsarevic saved all three by serving aces exactly at the same
point, that is, on the T. At this stage, Tipsarevic was playing the important
points better. Raonic was playing 8-10 feet behind the baseline and some of his
shots were not clearing the net. He was also having difficulty in returning the
second serves which were coming to him at about 135 kmph. Firing aces, Raonic
was untroubled on his serve and he comfortably reached the safety of 6-5. There
were some sloppy returns of serve from Raonic which enabled Tipsarevic to take
the set to tie break comfortably. In the Tie Break, Tipsarevic got the mini
break and got to 5-4. He took the first set tie break 7-4.
In the very first game of the second
set, Tipsarevic saved two break points. Raonic was serving very well and was
mostly untroubled on his serve. But he was not in the same comfort when playing
for the break of serve. Tipsarevic was playing within himself, not trying to do
anything spectacular. Towards the middle of the second set, Raonic reduced the
pace of his serve and went for the angles. He served a few aces at 185 kmph
wide to the forehand of Tipsarevic from the deuce court. In the eleventh game,
Raonic got a double break point but buried the return of serve into the net.
This was not a percentage play since Tipsarevic was not serving bombs. Raonic
was not playing important points that well. In the next game, Raonic gave a
double break point to Tipsarevic, but saved both, one with an ace and other
with gutsy net play. The set went to tie break, with Tipsarevic opening the
proceedings. Raonic took a mini break on the very first point, but Tipsarevic
got it back when Raonic buried the ball into the net. Raonic had been trying to
send a high top spin ball to the back hand of Tipsarevic but was over hitting
them beyond the side line. This had succeeded against single fisted backhand of Victor Hanescu in the second round, but was not getting executed well today. At
6-3 on his serve, Raonic had to just keep his cool. He squandered the first one
burying the ball into the net, but sent an ace at 220 kmph to the backhand of
Tipsarevic to take the second set tie break 7-4.
Raonic opened the third set, but had
to save a break point in the very first game. Tipsarevic was solid on ground
strokes and Raonic was solid on serves. In the fifth game, he fired a second
service ace at 189 kmph. Raonic tried to increase his aggression, but tended to
hit his ground strokes out. In the eighth game, Raonic got a break point but
failed to convert it. Raonic was not returning the serve well. Infact in the
subsequent service game of Tipsarevic, he played rather casually and let the
opponent go up 40-0 without having to play the return of serve. The basic
principle to keep the ball in play was not being adhered to. In the Tie Break,
Raonic raised the level of his play, both on the ground strokes as well as on
serve. He went up 5-1 at the change over and then got four match points. He won
the Tie Break 7-4 to take home the first trophy of 2012. Many more are sure to
follow.
It was a happy new year 2012 for
Milos Raonic. It augurs well for the upcoming Australian Open.
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