Milos Raonic posts improbable win over Pablo Cuevas to advance to Monte Carlo third round

By most criteria, Milos Raonic did not deserve to defeat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay Wednesday.

But somehow – sleeveless once again – he managed to find a way to prevail and advance to the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

The 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (5) victory came the hard way. With his serve not dominating during most of the match, his net game challenged and those opportunities sparse, the 25-year-old Canadian and Monte Carlo resident found himself in a position where he had to defeat an extremely capable clay-courter with an all-court game … from the baseline, and with his far-weaker backhand.

To say that wouldn’t be Plan A or even Plan B or C would be to understate it. And yet, Raonic pulled it off. The quality of his two-handed backhand, as he all but abandoned the slice except in extreme defensive situations, was as sustained as it has been in a long time.

As a reward, Raonic won’t have to face top-10 player Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, the player who defeated him in Monte Carlo in the quarter-finals a year ago when he was forced to retire because of the foot nerve issue that eventually required surgery.

Instead, he gets qualifier Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia; Raonic handled the world No. 99 6-0, 6-3 two weeks ago at the Miami Open, albeit on a hard court.

Raonic was broken early in the first set. Cuevas was running him all over the court and already he was barking at his support group, seemingly about the team’s strategy to hit a lot of high, looping groundstrokes.

He managed to break back to even the first set at 4-all after a contentious exchange between Cuevas and chair umpire Ali Nili, the 2015 Wimbledon men’s singles final chair umpire. Nili, to say the least, didn’t have his best day on several levels. But he was right on this one; Cuevas already had let Raonic’s shot go uncontested before the linesman made the “out” call, which was then overruled after Nili got down from his chair to take a look at it.

Nili opted not to replay the point because of that – something that on a break point against him, Cuevas understandable disagreed with. At length.

After Raonic secured the break on the next point, Cuevas angrily fired a ball into the stands and earned a warning.

But Raonic’s serving woes continued. He got lucky again at 4-4 with a slice that just trickled over the net, followed by only his second ace of the match. Eventually, he broke Cuevas to sneak out the first set 7-5, and let out a roar.

Raonic was immediately in trouble again to start the second set. He had 11 aces in the match but it seemed few, if any of them came when he needed them the most. Down 0-4, the second set was a write-off. At one point, Cuevas had 18 forehand winners to Raonic’s … seven. And  the Canadian only made it to the net eight times in the first two sets.

And then … a long break.

Raonic was undecided at first whether to take the now almost-mandatory “after a set loss” bathroom break that’s all the rage with the players these days. He eventually decided to, with Nilli telling him he was now on the time clock. After two minutes, Raonic returned from wherever he went; it sounded as though he told the chair umpire it was closed and then he headed in the other direction, with Nilli telling him it was going to take a lot longer that way, but doing nothing about it.

Undeterred, Raonic continued on his mission. Meanwhile, Cuevas didn’t move, didn’t stay active, content to merely stretch out his shoulders and arms while sitting in his chair.

Raonic returned, then decided he had to change his shirt. Then he forgot his towel at the chair. By the time play finally resumed, nearly 8 1/2 minutes had elapsed.

Did it make a difference? Possibly, at least early on.

Raonic came out with more purpose in the third while Cuevas was a little sluggish; the Canadian quickly went out to a 3-1 lead, breaking in a game Cuevas had originally led 40-love.

But because it was that kind of day, Raonic gave it right back.

He saved three break points at 4-4 in that final set, somehow. His legs looked to be feeling the effort of all the running he had been doing but the Canadian still managed to stay in a lot of points, and caught a few breaks.

Again, in that game, there was a long exchange between Nili and Cuevas centered on a questionable line-call decision from the chair umpire on Raonic’s serve on one of the break points. It forced Raonic to stand there for several minutes, waiting to serve on break point, until the point was replayed.

By this point, though, Raonic had regained his 2016 zen.

Two match points at 4-5 on Cuevas’s serve went begging. But finally, in the third-set tiebreak, Raonic’s serve showed up – when he most needed it.

While the Canadian won’t be happy with the way he played, it’s testament to his 2016 form that against a very good clay-court opponent playing extremely well, he came up with just enough to get the job done.

His potential quarter-final opponent, if he gets past Dzumhur? No. 2 seed Andy Murray or No. 16 seed Benoit Paire of France.