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No. 5 seed Milos Raonic shocked in the first round of Beijing by Viktor Troicki

No. 5 seed Milos Raonic shocked in the first round of Beijing by Viktor Troicki

Milos Raonic has always played the tournament in Tokyo, Japan during this week on the ATP Tour calendar. And it has been very, very good to him.

From his first appearance in 2010, when he qualified and put in an impressive performance in losing 6-4, 6-4 to Rafael Nadal to the last three editions, when he has reached the finals three times, it’s clearly a surface and environment that suit him.

This year, though, Raonic opted for the competing tournament in Beijing for the first time, a tournament that offers twice as much prize money albeit the same number of ranking points as Tokyo because both are 500-level events.

BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 03:  Simona Halep of Romania and Milos Raonic of Canada hold Chinese fans at the China National Tennis Centre on October 3, 2015 in Beijing, China.  (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 03: Simona Halep of Romania and Milos Raonic of Canada hold Chinese fans at the China National Tennis Centre on October 3, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

 

Some of that decision might be sponsor-related, which is understandable; Raonic’s clothing and shoe company, New Balance, has a far more aggressive presence in China than in Japan. And Raonic was the star attraction at the company’s junior clinic late last week.

But it proved to not be a great move as the 24-year-old Canadian, seeded No. 5, was ousted in the first round by Viktor Troicki of Serbia, 6-4, 6-4 in a Monday night match at the China Open.

The two had little history against each other, and not much of it recent. But you would think Troicki, whose stronger and more dangerous side is his backhand (unlike most ATP Tour players) wouldn’t be a great matchup for Raonic, who directs the majority of his groundstrokes to that side and approaches primarily to that side on the backhand slice.

BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 05:  Milos Raonic of Canada serves against Viktor Troicki of Serbia during the day three of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centreon October 5, 2015 in Beijing, China.  (Photo by Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images)
BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 05: Milos Raonic of Canada serves against Viktor Troicki of Serbia during the day three of the 2015 China Open at the China National Tennis Centreon October 5, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Emmanuel Wong/Getty Images)

Raonic, who won his first ATP Tour title of the season in his last outing in St. Petersburg, Russia just over a week ago  didn’t look in particularly bad form beyond a long stretch of tape on the inside of his left arm that stretched from the bottom of his sleeve right to his wristband. But a pair of service games – one at the end of each set – did him in.

A couple of unforced errors and some good anticipation by Troicki – once, in particular, came on a 218 km/hour first serve – and Troicki broke at 4-4 and served out the first set.

That it was as close as it was was surprising; Troicki was credited with 15 winners and just two unforced errors, Raonic with four winners and 11 unforced. Troicki out-aced the noted ace machine 4-2, and won 8-of-9 points on Raonic’s usually reliable second delivery.

The second set was somewhat of a carbon copy of the first, with everything rolling along until 4-4.
Raonic cruised to a 40-love lead on his serve in that game but, again with the help of a good guess on a 217 km/hour first serve, Troicki came back and won five straight points. He closed out the service break with a return winner down the line on a second serve that went right into his wheelhouse on the backhand side.

The Serb served it out with little trouble; Raonic helped him out by failing to put three of Troicki’s serves back into play.

Troicki again out-aced Raonic 4-2 in the set. And again, he had a better success rate on both his first and second serves. That doesn’t happen often to the Canadian.

The early exit won’t help Raonic’s bid to try to squeeze into the final eight for the ATP Tour Finals in London next month.

He is in the middle of a group of seven players within 450 points of each other in the singles race, the closest of whom remains 900 points behind David Ferrer of Spain, who currently holds down the eighth and theoretically final spot in the race.

With two Masters 1000 tournaments coming up, next week in Shanghai and later indoors in Paris, there remain a lot of points up for grabs. And you can never be sure that all eight of the current group will be healthy and ready to play in London.

But in that quest, this was a step back.