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Milos Raonic squeaks out a third-set tiebreaker against France's Jérémy Chardy, advances to fourth round in Miami

Raonic got through a tight one in Miami on Monday. (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)
Raonic got through a tight one in Miami on Monday. (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)

Milos Raonic was on a roll against France's Jérémy Chardy Monday in Miami with a 6-1 first set in the bag, and an early break of serve in the second set.

But as he served for the match at 5-4 in the second, just about an hour into his third-round match at the Miami Open, things, er, happened.

Chardy was pumped after winning the second against Raonic. He probably deserved a better fate, but the fates weren't kind. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Chardy was pumped after winning the second against Raonic. He probably deserved a better fate, but the fates weren't kind. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Inexplicably, Raonic found himself in a dogfight, much of it his own doing. But in the end, he took the third-set tiebreak to prevail 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (3) to advance to a fourth-round meeting with a fellow big server, American John Isner.

It was stressful enough that several locks of well-oiled hair flopped over Raonic's forehead as the match progressed. If the hair reflects the player, Raonic was a little disheveled on the inside as well.

There were 18 break points in this match – unusual in many men's matches, but certainly a rarity in a Raonic match. Raonic had 10 of them, converting three times; Chardy had eight, converting twice.

But for a good portion of the second half of the match, it was just error after error at key moments, and failure to capitalize on opportunities.

Raonic even admitted in press later on that Chardy had outplayed him in the third set. But the Canadian is 7-1 in final-set tiebreaks over the last year, and that obviously is too one-sided a record to be random.

But until then, it was messy. Perhaps, having a set and a break, Raonic didn't put pedal to metal enough to fight for a second insurance break. There was one game where Chardy double-faulted three times – and still Raonic couldn't break him there. Meanwhile, Chardy clearly was starting to get a better read on the big Raonic serve.

Returning at 5-6 in the second set, Chardy got a racquet on a couple of major Raonic deliveries - 143 mph and 139 mph. The first ended up being a flukey backhand return winner. The second was on break point and after Chardy put the ball in play, he took control of the point.

Raonic had his moments of frustration against Chardy in Miami Monday, but he prevailed in the end – barely. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Raonic had his moments of frustration against Chardy in Miami Monday, but he prevailed in the end – barely. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Just like that, they were off to a third set.

At 3-4 in the third  Raonic quickly got down love-30, with two errors early in points that had him staring into space. Chardy had a break point in that game, but somehow, after three deuces, Raonic held. Otherwise, it Chardy who would have served for the match.

Raonic had become hesitant with his groundstrokes, a half-step or a half-second behind.

A tight game at 4-5 in the third set, with Raonic serving to stay in it, hinged on a successful Raonic challenge on an ace on game point. There had been a couple of deuces already. But once he got it to the tiebreak, he never trailed.

Those are the types of matches that Raonic now rarely lets slip from his grasp, as he aspires to get to the latter stages of tournaments and face the very, very best in the game. But this one was awfully close; no wonder Raonic let out a big sigh of relief when it was done.

Against Isner – unlike Chardy, against whom he was 5-0 – Raonic has a losing record. Both matches took place in the summer, outdoors on hard courts and featured near-identical scores. Isner defeated Raonic in the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto in 2012, 76 (9), 6-4. In 2013 in Cincinnati, which takes place the week after the Rogers Cup in similar conditions, Isner again prevailed – this time, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Isner had a slow start to the season, but is hitting is stride again. The odds that there will be at least one tiebreak in their third career meeting are, well, a whole lot better than the 6/49.