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Big serving Canadian and 10th seed for the 2015 US Open, Milos Raonic takes on the out of form and struggling Fernando Verdasco from Spain in the second round.
Join The Roar for live scores from around 2:30am (AEST), following the Madison Brengle vs Anna Tatishvili match on the Grandstand court.
Despite the incredible rise of Raonic over the last couple of years to get him inside the top 10 of the world rankings this year, the US Open has not been kind to him. He has not made it past the fourth round in his four attempts and it is the only grand slam where he has not made the quarter finals.
This however, doesn’t back up the career long statistics for Raonic in which he has a far superior record on hard courts compared to any other surface. In fact he has won 67per cent of games on the hard court, which is 3per cent up on his career average.
In the first round Raonic managed to take out a straight sets win Tim Smyczek which would have been good as a confidence booster for the Canadian. He has struggled big time in the lead up to the US Open losing both of the only two games he has played on the hard court since Wimbledon.
If there is a player in poorer form on the hard court than Raonic leading up to the US Open, it may well be Verdasco. Since Wimbledon he has played in four tournaments, only winning a single match. Two of his four losses did come on clay, however he has been beat in dominating fashion in every game and he is not looking in a good way.
His first round match of the US Open was against Tommy Haas, which went the distance to five sets. The world number 41 Verdasco ended up recording a less than convincing win and will need to lift his game massively to defeat Raonic.
Verdasco has of course made the quarter finals twice at Wimbledon.
The pair have a fairly long history having met on six occasions previously. Whilst they have never met in a grand slam, their matches have always been fairly closely fought. Out of three matches on the hard courts Raonic has won all three, leaving you to believe that it puts him in an even better position for this match.
Prediction: Raonic should be able to dismiss Verdasco with his serve and power, however a good start is vital as he has struggled under pressure at grand slams previously.
Raonic in four sets.
Join The Roar for live scores of this second round match from around 2:30am (AEST) and don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the section below!
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde