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Without drama, Milos Raonic advances to the second round of the US Open
NEW YORK – As well as Milos Raonic serves, and for as many years as he has now been piling up a lot of victories on the strength of that serve, his matches often end up a game of cat and mouse.
His opponents will try different return positions to try to upset his rhythm, or get a better strike on the ball, anything to make a dent.
Tim Smyczek, a scrappy American with great wheels but a paucity of weapons, tried just about everything to handle the Canadian's serve, which regularly got into the 140-mile-an-hour range and up.
It didn't really work. While Raonic might admit to benefiting from some good fortune to escape the second-set tiebreak, in the end it was a routine, 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-1 win that puts him into the second round of the US Open singles against old foe Fernando Verdasco, and likely answers some questions as to his general level of fitness after an injury-marred summer.
"It was okay. The body held up pretty good. I think it's more just a lack of matches and sort of that first-round, let's say, jitters at a Slam. A combinations of those things," he said. "Other than that, everything was okay."
That didn't stop Raonic from expressing a lot of, ahem, frustration at various points throughout the match – even in the third set, when he was up 4-0 and well on his way to victory, there was a lot of barking at his support group. Mostly, it was at himself, which is a good sign in the sense that it once again has become only about the tennis, not the body.
"I think sometimes I wasn't stepping up and being aggressive enough. Sometimes I was making mental lapses. I was sort of letting that stuff creep in; I wasn't as sharp as I wanted to be," Raonic said. "It was more about knowing and being aware and not rushing. Sometimes I felt like I would just sort of go through things to quickly throughout many parts of the match. I wasn't always as disciplined with myself as I should have been."
Winning the second-set tiebreak was the key to making this first-round match routine. And there, Raonic made a great escape. After butchering an overhead – usually a reliable shot – at 5-5, Raonic handed Smyczek a set point. And then, he hit a superb, desperate forehand volley – dipping, stretching to his full length to erase it. He missed a couple of chances to close it out but on the third opportunity, he dropped 142 mph on Smyczek, who shanked the return.
The American spent the first set and a half standing way back to try to return Raonic's second serve. It didn't seem to work, for several reasons. For one thing, Raonic's second delivery has a huge kick on it and by the time it got to Smyczek, who isn't very tall, he practically had to leap into the air to make contact.
Quickly realizing what was happening, Raonic began to serve-and-volley on that second delivery and, with Smyczek practically in the stands, hit some drop volleys that the American couldn't get close to. He did this again and again, and finally Smyczek decided to try to hug the baseline on that second serve.
It was riskier, and it also didn't really work; on one second serve, Raonic dropped a 135-mph bomb on his opponent, who had no time to react.
How did Raonic serve it out?
140 mph.
141 mph.
143 mph.
And, to cap it off, 147 mph.
Smyczek could only smile. There aren't a whole lot of solutions to that particular dilemma.
