The past few weeks have not been exactly smooth for world no. 7 Milos Raonic. After getting prematurely eliminated in the French Open and Queen’s Club Championships, he’s now having a tough time getting through inferior opponents.
He beat no. 53 Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening round, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(4), and then ran into more trouble in the Round of 64 against no. 82 Mikhail Youzhny before coming out with a 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-4, 7-5 victory.
Raonic, indeed, still has a nice overall record this season (24-8) and on grass-held matches in the last 19 months (12-3), while also appearing in Wimby’s title game last year. However, when you factor in all of the struggles he shouldn’t be having lately and his straight sets loss to Ramos-Vinolas just a year ago, he’s looking like the next elite-ranked player to be on the wrong side of an upset.
The 22nd-ranked Albert Ramos-Viñolas advanced after beating Jordan Thompson and Andrey Rublev in the first and second round, respectively. Both matches were filled with spurts and runs from the two sides, and Ramos-Viñolas needed extra sets on escaping both foes.
Nevertheless, his 2017 campaign is currently on some roll, as he has come out on top in five of his last seven after embarrassingly dropping the four matches prior.
The Spaniard has a modest season record of 25-17 and an abysmal 6-10 card on a grass surface in his career, but considering that he has somehow fared well opposite Raonic in their two meetings, he could make tomorrow’s battle very interesting.
Writer’s Prediction
Raonic (-1,200) outlasts Ramos-Viñolas after a five-set war.
