Third seed Milos Raonic had to deal with another big hitter in the second round of the Aegon Championships but remained unbreakable on serve in his straight sets win over Jiri Vesely. The Canadian was highly aggressive, smoking his groundstrokes and attacking the net, winning all the key points in a 7-5, 7-6(6) victory to reach the quarterfinals at the Queen’s Club for the second year in a row.
Late Break Gives Raonic Opening Set
For the second match in a row, Raonic opening up the match with an ace. Both men were in complete control on their serve through the first seven games, before Vesely started to make some inroads on the Canadians serve. A missed volley gave the Czech double break point, but Raonic saved both with forehands, one groundstroke winner, and one volley winner.
After that brief scare in the seventh game, normalcy returned, with both men cruising through service games. Serving to send the set to a tiebreak at 5-6, Vesely faced some pressure for the first time, falling behind 0-30. A series of big serves erased the deficit, but he failed to convert a pair of set points and a missed drop shot gave the Canadian a set point a 40-AD. A miss-hit forehand from Raonic somehow fell in and Vesely would drive the forehand long to give the third seed the opening set.
Raonic Takes Tiebreak to Reach Quarterfinals
Just like the opening set, Raonic opened the set with an ace. The Canadian was much quicker to jump on his opponents serve in the second set, pushing Vesely to deuce in his first service game. Once again, the first break point came in the seventh came, when Vesely ripped a beautiful return cross court. But a big serve from the Canadian saved it and the set remained on serve. The set continued to follow a near-identical script as the opening set, with both men continuing to comfortably hold serve after Vesely failed to break in the seventh game.
This time, the Czech made no mistake serving to stay in the set and sent it to a tiebreak. Vesely would give away a minibreak almost immediately in the breaker, missing what should have been routine volley winner into the net. But he would take it right back when Raonic could not handle a great return from the Czech. The tiebreak would stay on serve for most of the tiebreak and Raonic was forced to save a set point at 5-6. A big return gave the Canadian a match point and the Canadian sealed the victory with a forehand passing shot winner down the line.
By the Numbers
Vesely actually out-aced Raonic 13 to 9, but it was the only category in which he was strong than the Canadian. Raonic won 84 percent of his first serve points, saved all three break points he faced and converted his lone break point of the match. He pummeled 37 winners past his opponent, while only giving up a remarkable five unforced errors. Vesely had 21 winners to 14 unforced errors. Raonic was highly net-aggressive in this match, charging in whenever possible. The tactic was effective, as he won 24 of 33 points at the net.
In the quarterfinals, Raonic awaits the winner between sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut and Donald Young.