Raonic will be fresh off his loss to 17th-ranked Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6 (7), 6-2, at the Semifinals of the Brisbane International.
There shouldn’t be any worries, though. He’s still consistently in the top three of the world rankings for a reason.
In the past year, he has appeared in four tournament finals. Although he only went 1-of-4, he was in great company, as he faced number one-ranked Andy Murray and number two-ranked Novak Djokovic in three of those championship rounds, and gave both guys good competition before bowing out. His win was in last year’s Brisbane Open, which was against Roger Federer, one of the sport’s all-time players.
His last encounter with Brown was in the first round of the US Open in August 2016, where he won 7-5, 6-3, 6-2.
Brown, currently 66th in the ATP rankings, just lost to the 36th-ranked Marcos Baghdatis, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 4-6, last week. The defeat was his fourth consecutive second-round exit in a tournament, which greatly justifies him being a big underdog in this match.
Still, if you want to be positive about “Dreddy,” there’s something to hold on to: he has won 13 of his last 17 matches in a clay surface, which is really something for a guy who’s not a household name in the sport.
Further, he is 5-of-12 in his total finals appearances in a clay surface. He’ll also boast a career total of 1,176 aces, while also winning 81 percent of the service games he has played on.
Writer’s Prediction
Raonic (-2000) will ease past Brown in three sets.
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