Indian Wells, California
It’s not often you see two Canadians face each other in a tour level tennis match. We’ll it’s now happened twice in the past three days at Indian Wells. The second “Oh Canada” installment of the week saw 32nd seed Milos Raonic take out 17-year old Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 6-4 on Stadium 3 in the Desert.
In a match which lasted an hour and 19 minutes, Raonic got off to a good start breaking the youngster in the opening game of the contest. Apart from the following game in which Raonic was broken at Love, he quickly found a groove and showed flashes of what made him the No. 3 player in the world just over a year ago.
Raonic was solid from the baseline playing his most complete match of 2018. He also mixed in some serve and volley through the match which proved to be effective. His serve, one of the best in the game, was on target. He had nine aces including one which reached 146 miles-per-hour on the radar gun. He even took some chances on his second serve firing a pair of rockets at the teenager clocked at 145 and 143 miles-per-hour.
It was as if the top ranked Canadian on tour was sending a message to the younger pupil. Raonic, now No. 38 in the World thanks to an injury plagued 2017, had 22 winners to just eight from Auger-Aliassime. He won ten of his 13 points at the net, lost just six points on his first serve and had a 64-percent first serve percentage.
“I have always played well here,” said Raonic. “The court bounces quite a bit. I know people are talking about it’s slower this year, but doesn’t — from what I can recall, it doesn’t feel that much slower than it has in the past years. It definitely helps that I have always played well here. I like the conditions. It just gives me some sort of unconscious ease.”
The 6’5 right-hander, ten years older than his opponent, never had a chance to play or even rally with Auger-Aliassime before Sunday’s encounter despite being from the same country. Raonic was busy competing full time on the ATP Tour while Auger-Aliassime has been playing Junior and Challenger events. Just recently he began getting wild cards into main draw events this year. Raonic had nothing but praise for someone he considers a future star win the game.
“He’s got a very positive, very, very positive future ahead of him. He’s 10 years younger than me, so even 6 years old- I remember seeing him. He’s always had a great discipline and great work ethic. And he’s a lot further along than where I was when I was his age by light years. I wasn’t winning matches at junior Grand Slams let alone these levels. He’s got a lot to look forward to. He’s well beyond a 17-year-old physically. I don’t think I got to that point physically ever, you know, as far as maturity. He’s got a lot of things going for him, that’s for sure.”
Auger-Aliassime, ranked No 169, can take a lot with him from his first Masters 1000 experience. He won two qualifying matches, a main draw match against another fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil and he will take home just over $25,000US for his efforts at Indian Wells, the biggest paycheque of his young career. He also endured himself to the fans in the Desert many who had never heard of him before.
As for Raonic, he caught a break for his third round opponent. Joao Sousa upset World No. 5 Alexander Zverev in three sets late on Sunday night. Sousa rallied from a 4-1 hole in the third set winning the final five games to advance. Raonic and Sousa will square off on Tuesday. The Canadian has won all three of their previous meetings, the last coming in the Final in St.Petersburg Russia. Raonic won his seventh career title over Sousa in three sets.
@Sportshorn
