Milos Raonic’s strong run on the grass this spring continued on Thursday as the powerful Canadian cruised past Andreas Seppi in straight sets to reach the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday. Seppi hung with Raonic for a while but could not keep up with the Canadians big hitting, eventually falling 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2 to the big-hitting sixth seed in just under two hours.
Tiebreak goes to Raonic
Seppi’s best chance to break the Raonic serve in the entire match came in the opening game, as the Canadian started slowly on serve. The Italian held a pair of break points in the opening game of the match but could not handle the Canadians power, failing to convert either before back to back aces sealed the game for Raonic. A few games later at 2-1, it was Raonic who held a pair of break points but was unable to convert as the set remained on serve.
After both men survived tight games to start the match, they would settle into service rhythms and begin holding with ease. Raonic would trail 0-30 on his own serve in the seventh game but won four straight points to hold. The set would require a tiebreak, which would prove to be almost as tight as the set itself. The sixth seed grabbed the first minibreak for 2-0 and would hold it for most of the tiebreak. Seppi would reclaim it to close to 4-5 but a forehand error gave it right back and Raonic held two set points. He missed the first but drew an error on the second to take the opening set.
Single break enough for Raonic
Looking to carry the momentum over into the second set, Raonic put his opponent under pressure immediately in the first game. He would hold a break point in the opening game of the set but could not handle a backhand and the Italian would hold. Both men began cruising on serve until the seventh game, when at 15-30, Raonic correctly challenged a shot that was called out but had actually caught the baseline for a winner to give himself double break point. A long rally ensued that ended with Seppi netting a forehand to give Raonic the first break of the match.
The Canadian was forced to dig out of a 0-30 hole in the following game but bounced back by forcing four straight errors to consolidate the break. That would prove to be the Italian’s last gasp in the set as, after he held to force Raonic to serve for the set, the Canadian pounded a pair of aces in an easy hold to grab a two-sets-to-love lead.
Raonic races into third round
The writing was on the wall for Seppi early in the second set when he was forced to battle through a deuce game in his second service game to hold for 2-1. That would prove to be the end of his challenge. After Raonic held, the Canadian would battle to break point in Seppi’s next service game and forced the Italian into another errors to score the break. Considering that Seppi had not held a break point since the first game of the match, this felt like a death sentence for the Italian.
Things would go from bad to worst for Seppi after Raonic held to love, as he would once again find himself down break point and this time, he double-faulted to gift the double break to his opponent. Raonic now led 5-2 and was serving for the match. The Canadian did was he did best, crushing two aces and a service winner in a love hold to close out the match in an hour and 57 minutes.
By the numbers
Raonic would strike 25 winners and won 85 percent of his first serve points. He only faced two break points in the match, both coming in the opening game. He even managed to win 75 percent of his second serve points. Seppi countered with 80 percent of his first serve points won but only managed 49 percent of his second serve points, which was problematic when he only won got 52 percent of his first serves in. The Canadian more than twice as many winners as hit opponent with 41 to Seppi’s 20. He also had 19 unforced errors to Seppi’s 13.
Raonic will renew his rivalry with Jack Sock in the third round. The Canadian dominates this rivalry, having won seven in a row over the American, including a straight sets win at Wimbledon in 2014.