Advertisement

Unruffled in round two, Milos Raonic will face a lucky loser in the French Open's third round as his draw opens up

Unruffled in round two, Milos Raonic will face a lucky loser in the French Open's third round as his draw opens up

PARIS – France’s Adrian Mannarino was pretty blunt when asked about the prospect of facing Milos Raonic in the second round of the French Open Wednesday.

“I know that if I don’t play a good match, I’ll get my butt kicked. It’ll be on me to do my best,” he said.

To sum up: Mannarino got his butt kicked in the first set, was competitive in the second, got his butt kicked in the second-set tiebreak, and finished it off with another butt kicking in a 6-1, 7-6 (0), 6-1 Raonic win that put him into the third round.

It took just over 90 minutes on a half-empty Court Philippe Chatrier that was pretty much drained of any energy. The previous match, a dramatic five-setter between No. 2 seed Andy Murray of Great Britain and unknown young Frenchman Mathias Bourgue, pretty much sucked the life out of the big stadium.

This pretty much sums it up:

It didn't take long, and there was plenty of firepower as Raonic advanced to the third round of the French Open Wednesday. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)
It didn't take long, and there was plenty of firepower as Raonic advanced to the third round of the French Open Wednesday. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)

Had Mannarino made a run, it might have come to life again. But Raonic made sure that didn’t happen.

“I think I became a little bit too passive. He was controlling more than I was in some parts of the second set, and that’s pretty much the main thing we’ll probably discuss when I sit down with Carlos (coach Moyá) and go over the match,” Raonic said. “But overall I think I did a good job, I came forward, I wasn’t that efficient at the net but at least I kept putting that pressure on him. I was able to play on my terms for most of the match.”

It wasn’t necessarily expected to be a tough one for Raonic, who was pleased to be back on Court Philippe-Chatrier after a two-year absence, and so early on in the tournament. Mannarino, a deft lefty with compact strokes and a nonchalant air that belies his ability to get on a hot streak and make shots, isn’t a giant-killer on red clay and was more impressed with Raonic’s return than his big serve.

“I felt like I did my best every moment of the match,” said Mannarino, who probably wouldn’t get unanimous agreement on that from the fans on hand.

“He returned really well in the first set and the third set while in the second, it dropped a little bit; he didn’t put as many returns in court,” he said. “The problem with him, it’s that when the return is in the court, it’s really deep. I was often on the defensive after my first serve.”

Mannarino said there was no reason why Raonic wouldn’t, shouldn’t play well on the red clay. “When you serve at 220 (kilometres an hour), it’s 220 – regardless, he’s a very good server,” he said. “And then, I think he returns even better (on clay) than on hard; he has more time. The small negative point in his game is his movement, which isn’t quite as good on clay. But he compensates by the way he hits the ball when he has time.”

Raonic capped off the victory with an on-court interview with former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli who encouraged him in his efforts to speak French.

Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli was impressed by Raonic's efforts in French, when she interviewed him on court after his win. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)
Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli was impressed by Raonic's efforts in French, when she interviewed him on court after his win. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)

The Canadian’s vocabulary is still limited, but he has begun answering a few questions in French at his press conferences this year and deserves huge props for putting it out there when he sometimes struggles for the right words.

On paper, Raonic would have expected to play No. 29 seed Lucas Pouille – another Frenchman – in the third round. The two met at the Australian Open, with Raonic winning routinely.

But Pouille was upset by lucky loser Andrej Martin of Slovakia Thursday, so that opens things up nicely for Raonic.

His only meeting with Martin came in the final round of qualifying at the Australian Open in 2011.

Here's what the victory looked like from courtside.