Raonic cruises past Benneteau to even Davis Cup
Written by on February 11th, 2012 in Latest News.
Milos Raonic defeated France’s Julien Benneteau in straight sets Friday night to pull Canada even at 1-1 after the first day of their Davis Cup tie.
Raonic, a 21-year-ancient from Thornhill, Ont., who is ranked 29th in the world, downed the No. 35-ranked Benneteau 6-2, 6-4, 7-5.
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga had staked France to a 1-0 lead with a straight-sets victory over Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C., earlier Friday.
Canada is playing at the World Group level for the first time in eight years. The winner of the best-of-five tie will play for the quarter-finals against the winner of a U.S.-Switzerland series also being played this weekend and secure a return to this stage of the competition in 2013. The loser will be forced to compete in a playoff round to avoid relegation to the Americas Zone.
Canada, ranked 14th in the world, is an obvious underdog to fourth-ranked France, which has four players ranked in the top 35 in singles. Raonic is the lone Canadian in that group while the other host-team players rank outside the top 100.
Raonic easily won the first set, but had to battle against the 30-year-ancient Bennetau in the second. Deadlocked at 4-4, Raonic broke Benneteau’s serve to go ahead 5-4 and then took the set with the next game.
With the final set tied 5-5, Raonic broke Benneteau’s serve again to pull ahead for excellent.
In the final game, Raonic double-faulted on his first match-point attempt, forced deuce and then took the match with an ace on his second serve.
Pospisil struggles
Pospisil, meanwhile, had the surface and favourable crowd he wanted, but his usually reliable serve let him down.
The heavily-favoured Tsonga, ranked sixth in the world, prevailed 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 before a sold-out, predominantly red-and-white clad, flag-waving crowd at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.
“It’s tough to play without my huge weapon,” said Pospisil. “I need to serve well in huge matches like this.”
Pospisil, ranked 115th, went ahead 3-2 in the second set, but Tsonga rallied to win the next four games in a row.
Tsonga said he tried to use his ranking to his advantage and cause Pospisil early discomfort.
“Today, I’m sixth in the world,” Tsonga said after the match. “If I can place a lot of pressure on him at the beginning, that’s tough for him.”
Pospisil committed 12 unforced errors in the first set en route to 36 in total. Tsonga’s nearly flawless first set contained just four unforced errors, and he made a modest 16 in the entire match.
After winning a coin toss to host the event, Canada is hoping its chosen hard court, the French squad’s lengthy travel and partisan spectators work to its advantage.
But, the boisterous crowd could not help Pospisil much as he committed unforced errors and struggled to counter Tsonga’s strong serve. Meanwhile, Tsonga had small difficulty handling Pospisil’s serve, which is considered one of the strongest parts of the Canadian’s steady game.
Pospisil admitted to having a case of nerves early, but said he was not affected by the pressure of playing at home after leading Canada to hard road wins over Mexico, Ecuador and Israel to reach the World Group.
“It’s different playing at home, but it’s excellent,” he said. “He’s just a excellent player. He didn’t really give me too many excellent opportunities.”
Pospisil landed only 53 per cent of his first serves compared to 69 per cent for Tsonga. The Frenchmen broke Pospil’s serve five times on 11 opportunities while the Canadian failed on his lone chance.
The turning point of the match came in the seventh game of the second set. With the set tied 3-3 and Tsonga holding the advantage, Pospisil double-faulted to give Tsonga the lead, set and, ultimately, the match.
When Pospisil wasn’t struggling with his serve, Tsonga frustrated him by racing to drop shots and racing to score winners. Tsonga felt getting to the tough spots just in front of the net made a huge difference.
“It’s a excellent part of my game,” he said. “I run quick, and when I do, I can change the way of the point.”
Most fans were donned in red and white Canada shirts. A small section of France supporters waved the country’s blue, white and red flag — and had more to celebrate.
Raonic, Canada’s highest-ever ranked player, met Julien Benneteau in a later match.
