13th seed Milos Raonic hit 34 aces as he defeated John Millman 7-6(4) 7-6(4) 7-6(4) to reach the third at Wimbledon while Lucas Pouille was the latest seed to crash out.
The Canadian dominated proceedings from the beginning as he used his big serve to finish off service games easily against his passive Australian opponent. The 13th seed also used his forehand to great effect as he was looking to reach the third round at Wimbledon again. However his opponent, John Millman was using big serves of his own and proved effective as he barely lost any points on his serve in the opening set.
As expected the first went to a tiebreak as the slower than usual grass courts played into the Australian’s favour as he extended some of the rallies. Despite Millman’s best efforts the former Wimbledon finalist proved too strong as his big forehands saw him take the first set tiebreak 7-4.
The second saw the world number 56 concede the break of serve mid way through as the Canadian pounced for a 4-3 lead. The world number 32 seemed to have the second set wrapped up as he looked unbreakable but a few loose backhands and some vulnerability at the net saw Millman level the set up at 5-5. Despite the mini-setback, Raonic refocused as he cleaned up his backhand to take the second set in a tiebreak.
The third set was once again Raonic’s as his kick serve was one of the keys as he completed a three tiebreak win over a very resilient, Millman who was producing some really good tennis. The Canadian will have to produce better tennis in the later rounds as he is yet to get out of second gear.
The 27 year old will now play Austrian qualifier Dennis Novak, who scored the biggest victory of his career by knocking out 17th seed Lucas Pouille. The 6-4 6-2 6-7(8) 3-6 6-2 win over a physically hampered Pouille means he will reach the third round of a grand slam for the first time. The Frenchman continues his poor grand slam form and is the 12th seed to crash out of the Men’s draw.
