Andy Murray Secures Straits-Set Win Over Milos Raonic

November 12, 2014

Andy Murray returned to winning ways at the ATP World Tour Finals following a 6-3 7-5 victory over Milos Raonic at London's O2 Arena.

Murray was blown away in his opening match by Kei Nishikori, but made no mistake against the Canadian by securing a straight-sets victory.

The Scot secured two breaks of serve in the opening set to move one set up in a little over 30 minutes.

Although Murray broke Raonic in the third game of the second set his 23-year-old opponent hit back immediately to square things up.

It was not until the 11th game that Murray secured another break which allowed him to serve for the match.

Although one match point came and went, he secured the contest at the second time of asking when a Raonic shot drifted long.

Roger Federer's win against Kei Nishikori earlier on Tuesday meant Murray knew he had to match that to avoid early elimination.

Murray could beat Federer and still go out depending on the score between Raonic and Nishikori, but equally a loss for Murray would not necessarily eliminate him.

Murray was significantly helped by Raonic's forehand having a major off day, the Canadian making 23 unforced errors off his favoured wing alone.

Slow start

Raonic started badly against Federer on Sunday - he improved markedly in the second set - but both his serve and forehand were wayward in the early stages against Murray.

The Scot had two looks at second serves on break points in the fourth game but could not take either. However, Raonic did the work for him two games later with a succession of errors to hand Murray a 4-2 lead.

He had gone up an early break against Nishikori only to give it straight back but this time he held firm, and seeing Raonic save two set points did not faze him as he took the third.

The fifth seed was serving better and hitting the ball with a lot more conviction off the ground.

He looked to be on his way to the victory he needed when Raonic cracked from 40-0 to drop serve again in the third game of the second set, a shocking double fault and even worse forehand completing the game.

But Murray's bad habit of giving service breaks straight back resurfaced to give the Canadian a much-needed lift.

And, worryingly for the Scot, Raonic had found his first serve while Murray's had gone off the boil.

Twice he was broken serving at 4-5 against Nishikori but this time there were no alarms, and a bit of Murray magic with a backhand pass he had no right to make set up a timely break to leave him serving for the match.

And, although Raonic saved one match point, the Canadian overcooked a return on the second and is still looking for his first victory.

"On Sunday (against Nishikori), there wasn't much magic. Today I came up with some good shots in the right moments. Milos didn't serve as well as he can and that helped," said Murray.

"It's a nice match on Thursday to look forward to, it'll be a great atmosphere again.

"It's always a pleasure to play against Roger. He's one of the greatest players that's ever played so to get the opportunity to play him in an atmosphere like this is excellent."
(Sky Sports)