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2018 Brisbane International, January 3 Men's Singles, 2nd round Pat Rafter Arena, Queensland Tennis Centre Alex De Minaur vs Milos Raonic |
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Young Aussie Alex De Minaur will aim to pull off a second upset in a row at the Brisbane International when he takes on Canadian world No.24 Milos Raonic in the second round. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 8pm (AEDT).
De Minaur wasn’t supposed to escape the first round when he took on powerful Steve Johnson, but the 18-year-old played the match of his career to overcome the American.
It was easily the biggest win he has ever had at ATP level after he was handed a wildcard into the tournament.
There’s little doubting De Minaur is one of Australia’s brightest young tennis stars, and unlike compatriots Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios, he looks focused and driven to succeed.
He came to Brisbane with good form, having won the Australian Open Wildcard play-off for Australians at the end of 2017, and it showed as he overcame Johnson. In that tournament, he beat Alex Bolt in the final over four sets.
The match against Johnson will have served as a good preparation for taking on Raonic as well, with the Canadian known for having one of the biggest serves in the game.
Given this will be Raonic’s first competitive match of the season, De Minaur’s best chance is to get off to a good start and hope to put his opponent under pressure.
The Canadian slipped in the world rankings during the second half of 2017. After an appearance against Andy Murray in the 2016 Wimbledon final, Raonic had reached No.3 in the world, but he battled with injury last year.
The big-serving Raonic fell out of the top 20 after a quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon, missing the US Open altogether.
Missing the final grand slam of the year only followed a string of poor results though, including losses to Jack Sock and Adrian Mannarino in Washington and Montreal respectively.
He needs to make a strong start to 2018 and get some court time under his belt before heading to Melbourne for the Australian Open. With such a wide open field and plenty of injuries, Raonic ordinarily would have liked his chances, yet, his own battles will have him lacking confidence heading in.
Prediction
De Minaur is rising and will learn a lot from this match, but even without any competitive tennis under the belt, Raonic should be good enough to advance to the quarter-finals pretty easily here.
Raonic in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of the Brisbane International from 8pm (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.