Raonic stuns Verdasco for first title
Source: Agencies |
February 15, 2011, Tuesday
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CANADIAN prospect Milos Raonic enhanced his growing reputation with a stunning 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) upset victory over top seed and defending champion Fernando Verdasco to win his first title at the SAP Open in San Jose, California, on Sunday.
The unseeded 20-year-old displayed maturity and confidence beyond his years in blasting 13 aces and claiming 49 of his 56 first serve points against the ninth ranked Spaniard.
"It (first tour win) came quicker than expected and it was amazing," said Raonic, who registered 50 winners to offset 30 unforced errors. "I can't stop smiling about it."
While Verdasco was generally unable to deal with the Raonic serve, he did forge a 6-2 lead in the first tiebreaker but could not convert any of his four set points.
He missed a forehand pass, saw the Canadian crack service and forehand winners and then missed a simple forehand to let the final opportunity slip from his grasp.
Raonic, who was ranked 84th at the start of the event, made the most of his opponent's profligacy by earning a set point of his own with a backhand winner before taking the tiebreaker 8-6 with another huge serve.
"I used up my luck today in the tiebreaker and then in the second set I got more confident," Raonic said.
The second set went much the same way as the first with both men holding fairly easily. Verdasco held his only break point at 4-4 but Raonic responded with another service winner.
The two went into another tiebreaker, where on Raonic's third match point, he torched a 180kph serve at Verdasco's forehand but before the Spaniard made contact with the ball, a fan yelled "yes" and the top seed netted his return
The chair umpire refused to replay the point, allowing Raonic to claim the tiebreaker 7-5 and the match.
An angry Verdasco said that fans that acted like that should not be allowed into the stadium. "If you don't know the rules of tennis, you should go watch soccer," he said
Raonic first came to the world's attention when he upset 10th seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open last month.
The San Jose triumph made Raonic the first Canadian since Greg Rusedski in 1995 to win an ATP title. At 20 years and one month, he is the youngest tour winner since Marin Cilic of Croatia won the New Haven title at 19 in 2008.
In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Swede Robin Soderling retained his World Indoor Tournament title by outlasting Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Sunday.
In a serve-dominated final, Tsonga boomed down 20 aces to Soderling's 12 but the Swede produced the greater consistency to triumph again in the Dutch port city.
Soderling is the fourth player to retain the title after Arthur Ashe, Stefan Edberg and Nicolas Escude.
In Paris, new world No. 1 Kim Clijsters refused to blame a slight neck injury for a 4-6, 3-6 defeat by Czech Petra Kvitova in the Open Gaz de France final on Sunday.
Top seed Clijsters, who retained her US Open title in September and won the Australian Open last month before helping Belgium into the Fed Cup last four, secured her place as the new No. 1 by reaching the semifinals at the Stade Coubertin.
However, her winning streak came to a sudden halt as the tall, ponytailed Kvitova took her third career title thanks to sheer power and superb returns on the fast hardcourt.
"It's nice to win today against Kim because she is world No. 1, I think it's my biggest achievement," fourth seed Kvitova, 20, said. "It's not logical, I lost my last two matches against Kim so I'm glad I won today."
Clijsters had come back from adversity in the previous rounds of the US$618,000 tournament, now run by former French world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, but she had no answer to the Czech world No. 18. "I'm not surprised. I know she can play like that," Clijsters said. "I had a little bit of a neck problem but it's not an excuse. She deserved to win."
The unseeded 20-year-old displayed maturity and confidence beyond his years in blasting 13 aces and claiming 49 of his 56 first serve points against the ninth ranked Spaniard.
"It (first tour win) came quicker than expected and it was amazing," said Raonic, who registered 50 winners to offset 30 unforced errors. "I can't stop smiling about it."
While Verdasco was generally unable to deal with the Raonic serve, he did forge a 6-2 lead in the first tiebreaker but could not convert any of his four set points.
He missed a forehand pass, saw the Canadian crack service and forehand winners and then missed a simple forehand to let the final opportunity slip from his grasp.
Raonic, who was ranked 84th at the start of the event, made the most of his opponent's profligacy by earning a set point of his own with a backhand winner before taking the tiebreaker 8-6 with another huge serve.
"I used up my luck today in the tiebreaker and then in the second set I got more confident," Raonic said.
The second set went much the same way as the first with both men holding fairly easily. Verdasco held his only break point at 4-4 but Raonic responded with another service winner.
The two went into another tiebreaker, where on Raonic's third match point, he torched a 180kph serve at Verdasco's forehand but before the Spaniard made contact with the ball, a fan yelled "yes" and the top seed netted his return
The chair umpire refused to replay the point, allowing Raonic to claim the tiebreaker 7-5 and the match.
An angry Verdasco said that fans that acted like that should not be allowed into the stadium. "If you don't know the rules of tennis, you should go watch soccer," he said
Raonic first came to the world's attention when he upset 10th seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open last month.
The San Jose triumph made Raonic the first Canadian since Greg Rusedski in 1995 to win an ATP title. At 20 years and one month, he is the youngest tour winner since Marin Cilic of Croatia won the New Haven title at 19 in 2008.
In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, Swede Robin Soderling retained his World Indoor Tournament title by outlasting Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Sunday.
In a serve-dominated final, Tsonga boomed down 20 aces to Soderling's 12 but the Swede produced the greater consistency to triumph again in the Dutch port city.
Soderling is the fourth player to retain the title after Arthur Ashe, Stefan Edberg and Nicolas Escude.
In Paris, new world No. 1 Kim Clijsters refused to blame a slight neck injury for a 4-6, 3-6 defeat by Czech Petra Kvitova in the Open Gaz de France final on Sunday.
Top seed Clijsters, who retained her US Open title in September and won the Australian Open last month before helping Belgium into the Fed Cup last four, secured her place as the new No. 1 by reaching the semifinals at the Stade Coubertin.
However, her winning streak came to a sudden halt as the tall, ponytailed Kvitova took her third career title thanks to sheer power and superb returns on the fast hardcourt.
"It's nice to win today against Kim because she is world No. 1, I think it's my biggest achievement," fourth seed Kvitova, 20, said. "It's not logical, I lost my last two matches against Kim so I'm glad I won today."
Clijsters had come back from adversity in the previous rounds of the US$618,000 tournament, now run by former French world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo, but she had no answer to the Czech world No. 18. "I'm not surprised. I know she can play like that," Clijsters said. "I had a little bit of a neck problem but it's not an excuse. She deserved to win."
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