Milos Raonic ousted by Dolgopolov in Indian Wells quarterfinals; on to Miami

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – “C’mon man, I’m hitting it 145 and you’re doing that? That’s bulls..t.”

Thus ended the match between Canadian Milos Raonic and Alexandr Dolgopolov.

The words Raonic said to his opponent, a player he is friendly with and has practiced with, as they shook hands at the net after the Ukrainian’s 6-3, 6-4 victory pretty much summed it up.

“First serve of the match, 141 (miles an hour); returns deep. 30‑all in the first game, 145 into the body; returns it even harder than I served it on him. He made me think more than most people can on my service games,” said Raonic, whose quarterfinal effort at the BNP Paribas Open was much more than he could have hoped for coming into the tournament after a two-month injury layoff.

Dolgopolov is an undeniably gifted, if a mite undersized and quirky, player who has had flashes of outstanding play throughout the last few years.

He has also had some terrible patches, partly due to the flipside of his creative, flashy game being a certain lack of consistency, and also because of a condition he has called Gilbert’s Syndrome that affects his liver – and thus requires medication and a special diet and can sap his strength for long periods.

Despite being less than six feet tall, Dolgopolov can serve it above 130 mph. He out-aced Raonic by a 6-4 margin; in his first match of the tournament, Raonic served up 33 aces.

But the reason Dolgopolov is in the semifinals here against Roger Federer was the way he handled Raonic’s own powerful delivery.

“I was quite fast today. I was really happy with that. And I was able to get more returns than usually you can against him,” Dolgopolov. “I'm quite pleased how I anticipated on his serve and have seen the toss of the ball and was really, really concentrated to get those serves back.”

Raonic’s feet weren’t quite as spry and snappy as they were in his victory over Andy Murray Thursday; that’s not surprising, considering how little tennis he’s played in 2014, never mind back-to-back matches against quality opponents.

But he didn’t play poorly. Far from it. He was just beaten by an opponent who was able to neutralize his biggest weapon.

Raonic can hit a lot of different types of serves. But the goal is always the same.

Raonic was successful on his first few forays to the net. But Dolgopolov came up with the goods in a few critical moments – none more than a running passing shot that allowed him to recuperate an early break in the second set, after Raonic had taken off to a 3-0 lead.

Raonic also didn’t hit the ball quite as crisply as he did against Murray. And he didn’t look nearly as confident; there were a whole lot more of those arms-in-the-air, aggravated gestures and looks over to his support team, as early as the third game of the match.

But he kept trying things; in the end, he was 10-for-18 at the net but, as often happens with these stats, it felt as though he was up there more than that.

So it’s onto Miami for the 23-year-old Canadian, after what can only be characterized as a successful trip to the desert.

He got back into the tournament groove, pulled off an upset against the reigning Wimbledon champion, and got to face Grand Slam champions Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka on the doubles court.

He also picked up $104,000 U.S. and 180 ranking points in singles, plus another $8,500 U.S. for his doubles effort.

Raonic will, however, drop a spot in the rankings to No. 12 if American John Isner wins his quarterfinal match against Ernests Gulbis Friday.