Raonic loses in straight sets, exits Wimbledon early again
Dutchman Sijsling ousts Canadian
LONDON — Milos Raonic didn’t mince words when describing his latest early exit from the All England Club.
Raonic was eliminated in the second round at Wimbledon on Thursday as he dropped a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4) decision to Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands.
The loss left Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard as the last remaining Canadian player in singles competition. She beat Ana Ivanovic on Wednesday to advance to the third round.
Sijsling needed a little more than two hours to complete the straight-sets victory over Raonic.
“At one stage I lost 12 points in a row — pathetic,” said Raonic. “When I did have chances, he played well and I couldn’t do what I wanted to do.
“Wimbledon’s still my favourite tournament. It’s me that’s the problem, not the court.”
Raonic, the No. 17 seed from Thornhill, Ont., has now lost in the second round here in all three career appearances at the Grand Slam event. After winning just a single match over the short grass-court season, Raonic will look ahead to the summer hard-court campaign most suited to his big-hitting game.
Earlier in the day, Ottawa’s Jesse Levine dropped a 6-2, 7-6 (7), 6-3 decision to eighthseeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.
Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, overcame a three-point deficit in the second-set tiebreaker before taking the third set in 31 minutes.
“In the first set, I was grasping at everything. It took me a set to settle in,” said Levine. “In the second I started to play well, I served for the set and saved a couple of set points.
“But guys in the top 10 can come up with the big shots at the right moment and that’s what he did. I’m happy with how I played and the showing
MILOS RAONIC
I had.”
The loss prevented Levine, the world No. 112, from equalling his best career Grand Slam result. He reached the third round at the All England Club in 2009.
By the end of Thursday, all 11 U.S. men in the 2013 field at the All England Club were gone, with top-seeded Novak Djokovic accounting for the last one by beating 156thranked qualifier Bobby Reynolds 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-1.
Earlier in the day, former topfive player James Blake lost to Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-3, 6-4, 7-5, while qualifier Denis Kudla was beaten by Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-5.
That trio joined 18th-seeded John Isner, 21st-seeded Sam Querrey, Ryan Harrison, Steve Johnson, Alex Kuznetsov, Wayne Odesnik, Rajeev Ram and Michael Russell on the way home.
It’s been 101 years since no men from the United States reached Wimbledon’s third round. And the last time it happened, way back in 1912, no Americans even entered the oldest Grand Slam tournament.
“It’s a tough stat to hear, but I still believe, right now, where U.S. tennis is, not too many guys are in their prime,” said Kudla, a 20-year-old from Arlington, Va., who is ranked 105th. “Maybe next year or the year after that, things could change.”
“Wimbledon’s still my favourite tournament. It’s me that’s the problem, not the court.”
Led by top-seeded and defending champion Serena Williams, the U.S. women still are represented in singles at Wimbledon this year.
Williams extended her winning streak to 33 matches, the longest on tour since 2000, by eliminating 100th-ranked qualifier Caroline Garcia of France 6-3, 6-2, while 18-yearold Madison Keys knocked off 30th-seeded Mona Barthel of Germany 6-4, 6-2.
Keys next plays 2012 runnerup Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, while Williams goes from a 19-year-old opponent in Garcia to a 42-year-old foe in Kimiko Date-Krumm, the oldest woman to reach the third round at Wimbledon since the Open era began in 1968.
“I have so much respect for her. I think she’s so inspiring to be playing such high-level tennis at her age,” said Williams, who at 31 is the oldest No. 1 in WTA rankings history. “And she’s a real danger on the grass court, I know that. I definitely will have to be ready.”
The precipitation wasn’t the only change Day 4 brought. After the chaos of Wednesday, when Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova were among seven former No. 1s who lost, results went mostly to form Thursday.
There were, however, two more injury-related exits, raising the total of players pulling out of the second round to nine, which equals the Open era Grand Slam record for any round. All told, 12 players have withdrawn before a match or stopped during one, one short of the Wimbledon record for a full tournament, set in 2008.