Milos Raonic from Thornhill, Ontario is in the quarterfinals of the ATP Rotterdam. In the second round on Wednesday, Raonic defeated eighth seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-4.
Raonic reached the ATP Rotterdam main draw on a protected ranking. However, he is ranked 309th in the world. Bublik’s world ranking is 23rd.
On Wednesday, a crucial double fault from Bublik in the first set led to a break point for Raonic. Bublik had difficulty reading Raonic’s serve throughout the match, as the Canadian had 12 aces while Bublik only had five.
This was their second meeting in their career and Raonic won both games. Raonic’s previous win came in the second round of St. Petersburg in 2020, where Raonic won 6-3, 6-2.
Raonic will now face either Gael Monfils from France or Jannik Sinner from Italy in the quarterfinals. This is Raonic’s first quarterfinal berth since reaching the semifinals of the Paris Indoor in fall 2020.
Monfils is the 70th ranked player in the world. He is a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist and reached the final four of the 2008 French Open and the 2016 United States Open. Sinner is now ranked fourth in the world and recently won the 2024 Australian Open.
Raonic has never played against Sinner and has won three of six meetings against Monfils. Raonic’s victories came in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Australian Open (6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4), the quarterfinals of Indian Wells 2016 (7-5, 6-3) and the round-robin portion of the ATP Finals 2016 (6-3, 6-4).
“Gamer. Introvert. Problem solver. Creator. Thinker. Lifelong food evangelist. Alcohol advocate.”