It will literally be a must-win situation for one man–and virtually for both–when Andy Murray and Milos Raonic take the London court on Tuesday. Murray lost to Kei Nishikori in his opener, while Raonic went down to Roger Federer.
Andy Murray will have to get back on track in a hurry at the World Tour Finals if he wants to have a chance of reaching the semifinals. The sixth-ranked Scot has home-court advantage of sorts in London, but it hardly mattered in a 6-4, 6-4 opening loss to Kei Nishikori on Sunday. Murray now has a tough test on his hands against Milos Raonic on Tuesday night.
Raonic has been a problem for Murray in the past. The 23-year-old Canadian leads the head-to-head series 3-1, including 2-1 on hard courts and 1-0 this season. He has won two in a row after prevailing 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(4) at the 2012 Tokyo event and 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 this spring in Indian Wells. Murray’s lone victory came via a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 decision in round four of the U.S. Open two years ago.
This week also got off to a slow start for Raonic, who succumbed to Roger Federer 6-1, 7-6(0) on Monday night. Unlike Murray, however, the world No. 8 steadily improved as the match progressed. Raonic generated four break points in the second set–including one set point–before collapsing in the tiebreaker. Still, he is 49-19 for the season and is coming off a runner-up finish in Paris.
Murray’s performance against Nishikori was a relatively poor one and certainly a rare one. London’s No. 5 seed had been 20-3 this fall with titles in Shenzhen, Vienna, and Valencia.
Although Murray is generally at outstanding returner, he has always struggled against Raonic and he also failed to capitalize on a dreadful serving day by Nishikori. Don’t be surprised if this is the continuation of tough week in London for one of the crowd favorites.
Pick: Raonic in 3
[polldaddy poll=8437269]
Leave a Reply