The London faithful could not ask for anything more than to watch Andy Murray play in the Queen’s Club final on Sunday afternoon. But will the fans get what they come to see? Milos Raonic and his huge serve will have other ideas.
Andy Murray and Milos Raonic will be squaring off for the ninth time in their careers and for the third time this season when they meet again in the final of the AEGON Championships on Sunday afternoon.
Murray is leading the head-to-head series 5-3, including 4-0 in their last four encounters. The second-ranked Scot prevailed 6-3, 7-5 at the 2014 World Tour Finals, 6-4, 7-5 on the clay courts of Madrid last spring, in five sets of this year’s Australian Open, and by an alarming 6-2, 6-0 scoreline two months ago in Monte-Carlo.
Even though Murray is outstanding on grass, this surface–on which they have never previously faced each other–should give Raonic a much better chance. The ninth-ranked Canadian is best known, of course, for his massive first serve. With John McEnroe in his coaching box, Raonic is also constructing points the right way and getting into net to minimize baseline rallies. The No. 3 seed’s groundstrokes are still a work in progress, to put it mildly, so the aforementioned tactics are especially crucial for him to implement. So far at Queen’s Club, Raonic has taken out Nick Kyrgios, Jiri Vesely, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Bernard Tomic, surrendering just his first set to Kyrgios in the process.
Murray is one win away from what would be a record fifth title at this event (eight players have triumphed four times). The No. 1 seed has advanced this week with wins over Nicolas Mahut, Aljaz Bedene, Kyle Edmund, and Marin Cilic–the latter two both in three sets. Murray is 32-6 for his 2016 campaign and coming off a runner-up performance at the French Open.
“A lot of great players have played here over the years and winning any tournament a few times is hard, obviously,” Murray commented. “But this one in particular has always got a very strong field. I’m glad I have given myself the opportunity to try and win again tomorrow.”
“For me it’s going to be about trying to dictate and play on my terms,” Raonic explained. “For him it’s going to be trying to take away time from me and trying to make me play as much as possible.”
Nobody other than Novak Djokovic is better at making opponents hit extra shots than Murray, who owns one of the best service returns in tennis. He seems to have figured out the Raonic serve of late, and that should help him triumph yet again in front of the British crowd.
Pick: Murray in 3
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