Sixth seed Milos Raonic got his bid at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships underway with a solid straight-sets win over Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-4. While he had some iffy moments at the net, Raonic was his usual big serving self, not being broken on serve while pouring the pressure on during his return games. He has never lost in the first round of Wimbledon.
Raonic needs tiebreak to take opening set
Raonic nearly got off to a dream start to his Wimbledon, holding to love and bringing out up double break point in his opponent’s first service game. Carreno Busta was up to the task on that occasion, saving both before holding. The Spaniard would have to battle through a deuce game at 2-3 to stay level. Raonic would continue to apply pressure to his opponent’s serve, often grabbing leads in return games but was unable to break.
Despite some good pressure on return, he was unable to reach break point again after his early opportunity and a tiebreak was required to decide the set. Carreno Busta grabbed a minibreak on the opening point, ripping a passing shot down the line for a winner. The Canadian would reclaim it two points later with a backhand winner. At 4-5, the pair engaged in a long rally with the Spaniard driving a shot long to give Raonic two set points. Carreno Busta’s nerves continued to get the better of him as he would double fault to gift his opponent the opening set.
Pressure finally gets to Carreno Busta
Carreno Busta looked to turn things around quickly in the second set, holding easily before grabbing a 0-30 love in the Canadian’s first service game. He could not take advantage and was made to pay in the following game, falling behind 0-40 and surrendering the break when Raonic hit a brilliant half-volley lob which Carreno Busta tried to return with a tweener, only to send it well wide.
In the following game, Raonic had some trouble with his net play and found himself down break point but a big served bailed him out. Another bad volley gave the Spaniard another break point but another big serve saved it. After missing the opportunity to break back, Carreno Busta and in trouble again, falling behind 0-40 again on his serve and Raonic would rip a winner for the double break. That would be enough for the Canadian, as he rode his serve for the remainder of the set, holding with ease to seal it 6-2
Early break enough for Raonic
The pressure kept coming from Raonic and he was rewarded with break points in his opponent’s second service game of the set. He would rip a forehand return at 15-40 that Carreno Busta could not handle to give himself the early break lead. At 4-2, he had a chance to break again and give himself a chance to serve for the match. Two break points came and went at 15-40 and then another at 40-AD before the Spaniard held.
Once again he was under pressure in the next game, this time, down double match point at 15-40, but he managed to save both. The Spaniard did well to fight Raonic as the sixth seed served for the match, saving four of match points. Finally, on his seventh match point, the Canadian hit a serve that Carreno Busta could not handle, sealing the victory in just under two hours.
By the Numbers
In a typical Raonic serving performance, he blasted 27 aces, won 79 percent of his first serve points, and saved both break points he faced, while scoring three breaks of his own. He also had 58 winners, nearly three times as many as his opponent (22) and only had 22 unforced errors. The one big area for improvement coming out of this match for the Canadian was his net performance. He only won 24 of 42 points at the net. He will want to be better if he is to make a deep run.
Raonic will take on Andreas Seppi in the second round.