Feliciano Lopez Ousts Raonic In Madrid

Written by: Staff on 3rd May 2011

Feliciano Lopez Ousts Raonic In Madrid

Feliciano Lopez of Spain returns the ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their final match at the Serbia Open tennis tournament in Belgrade, Serbia, 01 May 2011. Djokovic won 7-6(4) and 6-2. EPA/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC |

Several days removed from reaching his first ATP clay court semifinal in Estoril, Milos Raonic (Thornhill, ON) was knocked out in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain on Tuesday, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.

Raonic, ranked a career-high no. 25 on the ATP rankings this week, was defeated 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-4 by an in form world no. 39 Feliciano Lopez, who was a finalist at last week’s Serbia Open in Belgrade. Showing no ill effects of the back tightness that forced him to pull out of his Estoril Open semifinal on Saturday, Raonic jumped out to a one set lead thanks to 11 aces and an 85 percent success rate when his first serve went in. The second set remained on serve until the tiebreak when Lopez stepped up his game to level the match despite Raonic’s strong tiebreak record this season. Riding the momentum of winning the second frame, the Spaniard opened the final set with a break of serve, his first of the match, and that was all he would need to come away with the victory. With the loss, Raonic misses out on an opportunity to play Roger Federer who would have been his second round opponent.

Raonic’s next tournament willl the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, another Masters 1000 tournament to be played next week in Rome.