Wins take Raonic to new heights
Set to jump to career-best 19th in world
Milos Raonic gained more than a ticket to the third round with a 6-7 (6), 6-3, 64 win over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis at the Western & Southern Open outside Cincinnati on Wednesday. The 90 rankings points he has earned so far this week come during another quick rise through the rankings that, oddly, has been facilitated by his major hip injury last year.
On Monday when the latest ATP Tour rankings were announced, Raonic jumped five places to a career-high No. 19 after reaching the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, a tournament he missed a year ago while recovering from hip surgery.
The Thornhill, Ont., native’s 180-point bonanza in Toronto was aided by a first-round bye he earned when Roger Federer pulled out of the event, and the withdrawal Andy Murray, who would have been Raonic’s round-of-16 opponent. The Olympic gold medal- list stepped aside because of a knee injury.
Raonic, 21, has officially reached a height no Canadian singles player had previously been able to attain in the rankings and, with more consistent play, could be poised to climb further up the ladder in the final third of 2012.
“I was hoping to play a little better last week,” Raonic said Tuesday night after his 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over world No. 13 Richard Gasquet of France in the opening round of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 event. “Coming here, I’m playing better. I still have a long ways to go, but I feel like I’m on the right track.”
Raonic missed nearly four months of action in 2011 after sustaining his hip injury at Wimbledon, including the Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati and the U.S. Open. The Masters 1000 events are second in the men’s tournament hierarchy to only the Grand Slams and the ATP World Tour Finals in pointearning potential. In addition, he bowed out in round two of the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, his second event back after returning to the tour in 2011.
This year, Raonic is replacing that series of zeros on his ledger with deep runs in major events, which accounted for his jump this week and could take him even higher the rest of the season.
Another win against his next opponent, fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych, would take him to 180 points for the week and a meeting his old nemesis, crafty world No. 5 David Ferrer.
After Cincinnati, if Raonic can reach, say, the third round at the U.S. Open, Beijing, Tokyo and Shanghai — a Grand Slam, two World Tour 500s, and a Masters 1000 event — Raonic could crack the top 15.
Top 30 players as of the 2011 year-end rankings can count their best six results from events below the Grand Slams and 1000 series events toward their ranking as long as they have fulfilled a commitment to support the midlevel 500-series events by playing in at least four in a season with at least one appearance coming after the U.S. Open.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori currently sits at No. 18 in the world, 15 points ahead of Raonic. Nishikori fell in the second round of the Rogers Cup and the quarter-finals in London. Phillip Kohlschreiber of Germany is 17th in the rankings, 45 points better than Raonic after losing in Toronto’s round of 16.
Fast-rising American Brian Baker helped Raonic’s cause by doing away with Kohlschreiber in his opening-round match on Monday, while Nishikori is heading to round three after beating tour veteran James Blake in a three-set match on Wednesday.
Lucky or not, Raonic gained 180 points in Toronto, equaling April’s semi-final appearance in Barcelona for his fourth-biggest haul of the year.
“There is always a window [of opportunity],” Raonic said. “I just need to sort of kick through and go for it, and just try to make the most of it. I think there will be opportunities.”