Raonic reaches 3rd round at Wimbledon
Canadian scores 4-set victory over Russia’s Youzhny
LONDON — Canada’s Milos Raonic advanced to the third round of Wimbledon with a 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4, 7-5 win over Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny on Thursday.
Raonic, the sixth seed from Thornhill, Ont., picked up a key break to take a 6-5 lead in the third set. He later secured the victory with his 27th ace of the match.
The match on the No. 2 court at the All England Club took two hours 40 minutes. Raonic, a finalist last year at Wimbledon, will next face 25th-seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain.
Ramos-Vinolas needed five sets to complete a 7-5, 6-7 (6), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Russia’s Andrey Rublev. That match lasted three hours 32 minutes.
Raonic and Ramos-Vinolas have split their two previous meetings. Raonic was victorious when they met in Davis Cup play in 2013 and Ramos-Vinolas beat the Canadian in the round of 16 last year on clay at the French Open.
“I think I’m getting better and better with each match. That’s easy to say with two matches though,” said Raonic. “I think today I was better than the first round, but I think even in those matches I’m making good steps forward.
“Today I ended better than I did two days ago,” he added. “If that continues to be the case, then hopefully the momentum can speed up bit by bit.”
Djokovic dodges McEnroe’s comparison to Woods
LONDON — Try as they might, the reporters grilling Novak Djokovic couldn’t get the threetime Wimbledon champion to criticize John McEnroe for comparing him to Tiger Woods.
McEnroe, himself a three-time champion at the All England Club, said on the BBC that Djokovic was “distracted” and the person who comes to mind in similar circumstances “is not a tennis player, it’s actually a golfer: Tiger Woods.”
Djokovic was asked about those comments several times at Wimbledon on Thursday after reaching the third round. He beat Adam Pavlasek 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
“I really don’t take anything personal. I always got along very well with John,” Djokovic said. “You know, I guess whether that’s his opinion or criticism or something else, I’m not really sure. But in the end of the day, I respect everything he says.
“I really don’t take it in a negative way. It’s fine,” added Djokovic. “I don’t necessarily need to agree with that.”