Murray blazing through in Barcelona

First topic message reminder :

Anyone watching Murray vs Giraldo?

Murray 4-1 up in the first set and presumably in cruise control.

wow...what a cc FH by Raomc to give him adv...(4-4)

Raonic breaks and will serve for the match

Murray. lame FH. gets broken. See if he can fight back.

Raonic misses easyish smash...0-15....tight?

Misses another easy smash!!! 0-30

service winner 15-30

Murray wins tight point....15-40!

huge serve. great return...but Raonic wins ralley...30-40

MURRAY changes racquet....make Raonic think....hmmm

It'll be "Raonic" if he choked as Alanis Morrisette used to say...

...and gets the break!

haha reckoner...it certainly was...!

Raonic making more errors now...still thinking back no doubt.

6-5 Murray

...it's like missing an easy smash, when your opponent's looking away
isn't it Raonic? don't you think?

Raonic ripping through this game...40-0

Tie-break!

Tie-break...
reckoner

1-0 Raonic

doesnt miss the easy smash this time...2-0

lendl not looking happy (no news there then...)

Murray error...3-0

yikes... here comes the next wave of tennis talent I guess

Yeah reckoner...the power of the guy is immense.

pegs one back...3-1

weak 2nd serve..Raonic launches another FH, murray dumps into net...4-1

and then launches a service rocket outwide...5-1

Big serve outwide...Murray into net...6-1....5 MPs

...ralley....Raonic slices into net 6-2

service winner from Murray 6-3....2 big bombs to come now...

GSM Raonic!

Well well well, I thought it could be tight one for Murray, but didn't think Raonic could do it, specially on clay.

he took a set off Fed at IW, has he played Rafa before?

wow WTG Raonic!

Kind of blew Murray off court really...loads of lobs going up when Murray stretched into corners by huge groundies...and that serve...just wow.
Murray 2nd serve on clay just allows guys like this time to tee off. Havent seen match stats though.

I wasn't having a pop the other day but what I said was proportionate, and given this result it seems even more reasonable.

Beaten by an up and coming player on what must be the young mans least favoured surface doesn't bode well for the future.

Well that is certainly interesting. Their first meeting and on clay where Raonic seemed unsettled and he has dispatched the world no.4. Hmmmm. Wonder what now for both players. Raonic must be looking up and Andy, well watch out below!!

Yeah Nadal is 2:0 up....both on HC too (Tokyo 2010 and 2011)

bogbrush wrote:I wasn't having a pop the other day but what I said was proportionate, and given this result it seems even more reasonable.

Beaten by an up and coming player on what must be the young mans least favoured surface doesn't bode well for the future.

I didn't think you were having a pop as such, but did feel you were perhaps taking a much longer view than the subject at hand warranted. Certainly didn't mean to put you off posting by saying that, BB!

No problems at all, I wasn't offended or anything. Feel free to argue - I know I certainly do!!

A tough loss for Murray this but shows what a danger Raonic is going to be...on any surface. BTW...Raonic trains at Barcelona during the summer.

awesome BB. And thanks for the updates lydian!

Anyone predicting another upset with Nadal??

Agree BB...Murray really should have the weapons, experience and guile to beat Raonic but he seems to struggle with all sorts of different players. Not really sure his game is moving forward any...no signs that Lendl has been a useful addition so far for sure. And that 2nd serve....dont even get me started on it!

YES, totally! @Harpo

I now predict Raonic will make his breakthrough at Barcelona!

lydian wrote:Agree BB...Murray really should have the weapons, experience and guile to beat Raonic but he seems to struggle with all sorts of different players. Not really sure his game is moving forward any...no signs that Lendl has been a useful addition so far for sure. And that 2nd serve....dont even get me started on it!

Not to worry he's still the most talented player in the top 4 according to some commentator and what's more he's a millionaire as some keep pointing out...

Honestly that lad had so much potential. I remember seeing him play Nalbandian and thinking "crikey" - now it's more like

No worries reckoner

Cant really see it harpo...but you never know.
Might push him for a tight 1st set though.
Nadal wouldnt crumble like Murray does mid-ralley, and doesnt have a weak 2nd serve allowing Raonic to tee off.

He'll need to get past Ferrer (I predict) first though...and Ferrer on clay is metronomic like...kind of Nadal-lite. If he can beat Ferrer then we'll have a match on our hands.

Yeah you feel Murray's talent hasnt been nurtured properly...I blame McLagan team...focused on turning him into a muscle machine to the detriment of the guile he has...he should have been another Mecir, insetad they tried to turn him into Nadal but Nadal is a one-off.

Yeah Ferrer must be so annoying to play against, still, nice to have an upset to shake things up. Shame for Murray of course, perhaps RG will bring better things.

For me it was always 80% Rafa's tourney, and Andy's exit now makes it 95%

A surprising loss, but another significant step on the ladder for Raonic .....