Milos Raonic (5) had to fight to get past giant-killer Jeremy Chardy (31) in the last 32 of the ATP 1000 Miami Open. The fifth seed’s 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (3) victory earns him our player of the day award.
Losing to Chardy would not have been the Canadian’s most shocking career defeat- only six months ago he lost a match to a player outside of the top 100. Chardy is at least a top 40 player and has a list of notable scalps- Del Potro at the Australian Open 2013, Murray at Cincinnati 2012, Federer at Italian Open 2014.
The way in which the Canadian lost his grip on the match, however, was a little surprising considering he led Chardy 5-0 in their head to head and was playing the better tennis on the day by far.
The Canadian swept through the first set 6-1, and broke to lead 3-2 in the second, and looked set to cruise to victory.
At 5-4, Raonic served out for the match, but his increasing errors and Chardy’s consistency, variety and well-crafted moments of aggression allowed the world no.38 to break back and level the set at 5-5.
Raonic was unable to convert breaks point in the next game, Chardy held serve, and then took control of the match to break Raonic and take the second set 7-5.
Chardy served first in the decider and both men held serve, with Raonic two points from defeat serving at 4-5, all the way to the tiebreaker.
In the tie-break, though, Roanic showed the improvement to his game over the last eighteen months, particularly on the mental side of things. While he had looked rattled since losing his grip on the match, in the tiebreak he settled himself and took control.
The fifth seed was gifted a mini-break on the very first point of the tie-break when Chardy double-faulted. Raonic then struck a service winner and followed it up with a serve down the middle and a forehand winner off the short ball to lead 3-0.
At 3-2, Raonic served down the tee, hit a slice backhand approach shot and hit a winning forehand volley. It was a confident and calm display against a man who had pushed him all the way the previous hour. A service winner later and Raonic was 5-2 up, no longer being pushed, but, just as he had started the match, doing the pushing around.
At 5-3, Raonic unleashed his backhand on the return, hitting it deep to Chardy’s forehand, got the Frenchman on the stretch, and then, with all the time in the world, hit an inside out forehand cross-court to force an error.
On his first match point, on his serve, Raonic hit a service winner, and sealed the win.
The Canadian took a deep breathe, and for good reason. His run to the semi-final in Indian Wells had helped him get some momentum going again, and he had taken his eye off the ball against Chardy, one of the game’s most dangerous 30-40 ranked players, for a second and narrowly avoided letting the win slip from his grip.
Raonic can take great confidence, and heart, that his serve, forehand, return and volley all stood up to the Chardy test when it had mattered most, the hard work put into his game the past eighteen months paying off in the form of a hard-fought second consecutive trip to the Miami last eight.
Commentary by Christian Deverille @thetennisreview
Follow the Miami Open and The ATP Tour with The Tennis Review
Liked this article? Please share it 🙂
Do you agree with Milos Raonic as player of the day? Please share your thoughts below.
thetennisreview 
Leave a comment