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James Blake Whipped by the Raonic Man
By Nick Georgandis
© Tony Chang/Chang Photography
(February 10, 2011) Another day and another fistful of aces for Canadian sensation Milos Raonic.
The kid with the enormous serve made American James Blake his latest victim, serving 13 aces and hitting 32 of 35 first serves (91%) for winners in a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory in the second round of the SAP Open at San Jose, California.
Blake, coming off his first victory since October 2010, showed considerable pluck in the second set, but could break Raonic once in four chances, and was unable to send the match to a third set.
Raonic will face 20-year-old Lithuanian Richard Berankis in the third round. Berankis dispatched of American Donald Young 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.
It was a lousy day for Americans all around at San Jose, with Ryan Sweeting also going down in defeat, a 6-4, 6-4 loser to Ivo Karlovic.
Lone American Robert Kendrick pulled out a win, defeating Russia's Igor Kunitsyn, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
If Raonic and Karlovic could both stay hot, it could set up one of the tallest and most serve-dominated finals in recent ATP history.
The 6-foot, 10-inch Karlovic recorded the second-most aces in a match ever in 2009 when he rocketed 78 in a Davis Cup match against Radek Stepanek. In 2007, he launched 1,318 aces total, second most in an ATP season. He also holds the second-fastest recorded serve ever at 153 miles per hour during 2007.
Very new on the ATP scene, Raonic put 28 aces on Mikhail Youzhny in his breakthrough third-round Australian Open win. With another 45 points added to his point total already this week, Raonic is primed to move into the Top 75 in the world.
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