PETE ZIEBRON
Milos Raonic in action against Denis Shapovalov on Court 10 in Cincinnati
Milos Raonic used his big serving and veteran experience to oust countryman and upstart Denis Shapovalov 7-6(6) 6-4 to advance to the 4th round of the Western & Southern Open.
Shapovalov held a set point in the first set tiebreaker on his racquet at 6-5 but failed to capitalize on the opportunity. The 19 year-old lost both service points and then Raonic slammed the door to take the breaker 8-6.
Raonic held serve comfortable to open the second set and proceeded to break Shapovalov at 30 to take a 2-0 lead. Following the match, I asked both men about the shift in momentum from the conclusion of the opening set into the second set:
Shapovalov: "I started rushing a bit more in the second set. Maybe it was just a little bit of lack of focus, still thinking about that. Yeah, I came in on a couple of balls that weren't good to come in on and just rushed in general a little bit."
Raonic: "I think a little bit of both (he may have still been thinking about the end of the tiebreaker and I pushed him a bit in his first service game of the second set). I was getting more into his games than he was into mine."
Denis Shapovalov had a set point against Milos Raonic.
Serving at 4-2 in the second set, Raonic uncharacteristically hit three double faults in the game to basically hand the game to Shapovalov and o=all of the sudden, the set was back on serve.
Serving at 4-5 to stay in the match, Shapovalov got behind quickly 0-30, won the next three points and then dropped the next three as the elder Canadian Milos Raonic won the match to advance to round three. He awaits the winner of the Novak Djokovic - Grigor Dimitrov winner, At the moment, Djokovic is up a break early in the 3rd set in a match suspended by rain
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