‘Stronger’ Raonic starts new year with ace blitz
BRISBANE: There are no real secrets to the success of rising tennis star Milos Raonic. The towering Canadian has a booming serve that is one of the most dangerous weapons in the game.
Last year, he served 954 aces, third overall behind Ivo Karlovic and John Isner. After just one match this year, he already has 17, an ominous warning that his delivery is getting even harder to handle.
Less than two months after he limped out of the ATP Finals, Raonic made an eyepopping return at the Brisbane International yesterday.
He hardly broke sweat on a hot and humid day as he ruthlessly dispatched of Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin, firing aces seemingly at will past his bewildered opponent.
“I served well,” Raonic said, without any hint of understatement as he prepares for this month’s Australian Open.
“We finished last year and we definitely thought I could do a lot better with my serve, so we spent a lot of time on it and I’m happy that it’s going well.”
While still packing plenty of heavy artillery in his game, Raonic spent most of the offseason working on the other parts of his game.
By his own admission, he needs to add more variety and develop a tougher mental approach if he wants to break through for a first Grand Slam win. “I feel good,” he said. “I’ve put a lot of work in technically and on a lot of things, so I feel better as tennis player. I feel much stronger and fitter.”
At the other end of the age scale, Roger Federer avoided an embarrassing start to the new season when he dug himself out of trouble to beat littleknown journeyman John Millman 4-6 6-4 6-3 yesterday.
What was expected to be a romp in the park for the Swiss maestro quickly turned into a old-fashioned scrap, as he struggled to overcome a player ranked 153rd in the world, who had only won three ATP matches in his career.
The World No 2 conceded the opening set when he sprayed a forehand volley over the baseline, and then fell 3-1 behind in the second when he dropped serve for the second time in the match.
But once Federer elevated his game and began to eliminate some of his mistakes, Millman, a 25-year-old from Brisbane, was unable to stay with him.
“I was under a lot of pressure and I thought I got quite lucky in the second set,” Federer said in a courtside interview. “He was playing some great tennis until the last couple of games, so credit to him.”
Ana Ivanovic recovered from an awful start to beat Kaia Kanepi and remain on track for a glamour meeting with Maria Sharapova.
Ivanovic looked anything, but the World No 7 as she lost the opening five games, prompting her coach Dejan Petrovic to join her in an animated courtside chat.
Sharapova was very impressive in her 6-1 6-3 win over Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.
Meanwhile, the promised “two thousand times better” improvement did not materialise as a sluggish Serena Williams eked out a narrow 63 6-7 (1) 7-6 (6) win over Lucie Safarova at the Hopman Cup in Perth yesterday.
Williams belted 41 winners, eight more than Safarova, but also committed 46 unforced errors in the see-saw contest. – Reuters M Vijay c Haddin b Starc...............0 L Rahul c and b Starc................110 R Sharma b Lyon .........................53 V Kohli not out ...........................140 A Rahane lbw b Watson..............13 S Raina c Haddin b Watson ..........0 W Saha not out ............................14 Extras (1b, 6lb 4nb 1w) .............12 Total (for 5 wckts, 115 overs) .342 Falls: 1-0 M Vijay,2-97 Ro Sharma,3-238 L Rahul,4-292 A Rahane,5-292 S Raina. To bat: R Ashwin, M Shami, U Yadav, B Kumar . Bowling: M Starc 21- 4-77-2, R Harris 23-6-63-0 (2nb) J Hazlewood 20-5-45-0 (1w), N Lyon 32-7-91-1 (1nb), S Watson 15-442-2 (1nb), S Smith 4-0-17-0.
Stumps on day 3. SUNFOIL SERIES Potchefstroom Highveld Lions v Cape Cobras CAPE COBRAS first innings R Levi c Tsolekile b Pretorius ....95 O Ramela lbw b Pretorius ..........20 K Petersen b Matshikwe.............47 M Vallie b Matshikwe ..................26 D Vilas c Hendricks b Pretorius.24 S El’brecht c T’lekile b Jamison .37 S Khan not out .............................21 G Linde c Tsolekile b Jamison......2 M Shezi not out..............................0 Extras (5lb, 2nb)............................7 Total: (7 wickets. 90 overs) .....279 Falls: 1-65, 2-152, 3-191, 4-192, 5-229, 6-269, 7-279. Bowling: Matshikwe 18-5-42-2, Mazibuko 12-1-52-0, Jamison 155-51-2, Pretorius 20-5-57-3, Deeb 25-5-72-0.
Stumps on day 1. Warriors v Dolphins East London WARRIORS first innings M Price c Chetty b Maharaj........92 D White lbw b Frylinck................38 C Ac’mann lbw b Phehlukwayo ..59 J Smuts not out............................43