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Milos Raonic survives the tricky Alexandr Dolgopolov, moves into the third round in Madrid

The Canadian doesn't do the tappety-tap-tap thing during the changeovers any more – that was a passing phase – but he still takes a moment to close his eyes and get in touch with his inner zen. (TennisTV.com)

For two sets, even though he won the first, Canadian Milos Raonic was outplayed Tuesday by  mercurial Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.

But after losing the second set tiebreak in large part due to his own errors, and heading off court for a bathroom break, an incensed Raonic turned his anger into a positive.

The 25-year-old from Thornhill, Ont. rolled through the third set, his big serve virtually unreturnable, and defeated Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2 to move into the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.

Raonic fired just four of his 17 total aces in that deciding set. But his first-serve percentage checked in at 83 percent; he lost just one point on his first serve and he just wrestled the outcome of the match right out of Dolgopolov’s hands.

He will face the winner of No 7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and Spain’s Albert Ramos-Viñolas in the third round, with world No. 1 Novak Djokovic possibly looming next.

Dolgopolov is a quirky, brilliant shotmaker who serves much harder than his relatively modest size would indicate and is as capable of firing a forehand winner from anywhere as he is to feather a delicate drop shot over the net, just because the idea suddenly occurred to him right in that very moment.

He rose as high as No. 13 in the world in 2012 and is climbing back up the rankings after a 2015 season that wasn’t far from a total write-off because of a knee issue. A year ago at this time Dolgopolov was down to No. 80, as low as he’d been in the rankings since 2010. He has since rallied, and currently stands at No. 29.

Dolgopolov, an average-sized man, possesses a big, dangerous game. But Raonic weathered the storm in a three-set victory in Madrid Tuesday.
Dolgopolov, an average-sized man, possesses a big, dangerous game. But Raonic weathered the storm in a three-set victory in Madrid Tuesday.

Dolgopolov was simply better than Raonic in the first set. But he couldn’t take advantage of his break-point chances and a supremely poor game, when he was serving at 4-5, basically handed the set to his opponent.

The second set was more of the same; Raonic had eight winners (six of those were aces) and 15 unforced errors in that set while Dolgopolov had 15 winners and just six unforced.

Raonic played it cool after his victory, but he managed his emotions well during the tougher moments Tuesday in Madrid. (TennisTV.com)
Raonic played it cool after his victory, but he managed his emotions well during the tougher moments Tuesday in Madrid. (TennisTV.com)

Still, Raonic’s tiebreak record is excellent. And his serve will always give him a shot if he can secure an early advantage.

He had an vacant court for a backhand down the line early on in the tiebreak, a sitter that would have given him a mini-break at 2-1. He missed it. He missed two routine forehands as well as a slice backhand, too – to his extreme annoyance.

But the Canadian found his zen in the men’s room. He came out and broke Dolgopolov to start the third set. Then he ran away with it.

Raonic will have the day off Wednesday as Tsonga and Ramos-Viñolas play deep into the evening; their match is scheduled “not before 9:30 p.m.”. That means Raonic also is likely to have much of Thursday off as well, because the third-round encounter isn’t likely to be scheduled until later in the day.