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Milos Raonic's serve comes up big as he advances to quarter-finals at Rogers Cup

Milos Raonic's serve comes up big as he advances to quarter-finals at Rogers Cup

TORONTO — Growing up, the Rogers Cup was the only tennis tournament Milos Raonic attended as a spectator. For that reason, this place holds sentimental value for the seventh-ranked Canadian.

It's definitely one of the more significant achievements I'd like to reach,” he said about one day winning the title at the only Canadian ATP Tour stop. “Hopefully I can make it count this time around, and it's what I'm training for. My focus is not anywhere, any further along to any other tournaments coming up other than this tournament at this moment.”

On an overcast Thursday evening, Raonic got one step closer to that goal as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over USA's Jared Donaldson to advance to the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup on Centre Court at the Aviva Centre.

Raonic opened the match with a 235-kilometre per hour serve that his opponent could only block with his racket before the ball ricocheted out of play. Raonic would hit a few more like that, plus one that clocked in at 236 km/h. Fittingly, he ended the match with a cool 230 km/h ace up the middle.

For Donaldson, the young American ranked 147, it was the first time he was playing in the third round of a Masters 1000-level tournament — and it showed as he, understandably, struggled to handle the speed of Raonic’s serve from the get go.

“I saw that he was going to return from close. I went a little bit harder into the body just to try to make him think about it, hopefully make him step back to open up the angles for myself more. But I don't think it was any different today than any other day,” he said about this serve.

In total, he hit 15 aces — some even on his second serve — and won 81 per cent of his first-serve points in the match. But Raonic was more than just his serve on this evening. He broke his opponent three times and displayed his newfound prowess at the net.

Once, while at the net during the second set, Raonic hit a stab volley, his body twirling on the court afterward. The ball popped off his strings high into the air, spinning so fiercely it was unclear if it would make it over the net. It did, and all his opponent could do was watch. The 6-foot-5 Canadian let out a rare grin on court as he went up 40-0. And how could he not? For a second night in a row, things were going well.

I'm taking care of my own things, creating some opportunities. And, you know, I'm going for the shots,” he said. “I'm taking time away from the other guy, making the guy, from what I can tell, the other side of the net, uncomfortable, not giving him too much rhythm. That always helps me.”

Before a nearly full stadium, which included Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, Raonic went up 2-0 early, breaking Donaldson in his first service game, in which he failed to get a first serve in. From there, he would hold his own serve handily and leading 5-2, he'd break Donaldson with a putaway backhand volley to take the first set.

The second would be much the same, as Raonic took advantage of unforced errors from across the net to once again break Donaldson early. Meanwhile, Raonic never once faced a break point on his serve. He went up 5-2 when he served up a 236-km/h bomb into Donaldson's body and served out the match the next chance he got.

Next, Raonic will play France’s Gael Monfils, currently on an eight-match win streak after winning the title in Washington last week. The two have already played twice this year — the quarter-finals of both Indian Wells and Australian Open — and Raonic won each. To beat Monfils here, Raonic said he’ll have to dictate play.

I have been able to get the better of him twice this year because I was controlling the court and taking time away from him coming forward,” he said. “He can do a lot of things. He can make you play a lot of balls. If you sort of take the time away from him then you make it difficult on him. I'm going to have to continue doing that.”

Raonic will be Monfils’ second Canadian opponent of the event, having eliminated Vasek Pospisil earlier this week. It will undoubtedly be a one-sided crowd on Centre Court Friday night, though Monfils said he’s fine with that.

“I don't mind. As I say, it's like Davis Cup, you know. I love to play in Davis Cup. I love to play when it's crowded, and if the crowd is for the other one, it's fine,” he said.