American Harrison Stuns Raonic To Advance at U.S. Open

August 31, 2016 | By Brian Coleman

American qualifier Ryan Harrison provided the upset of the tournament up to this point, knocking off Wimbledon finalist and fifth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic 6-7(4), 7-5, 7-5, 6-1 to reach the U.S. Open third round.

“I just was really going to focus hard on taking care of my service games as much as possible. Then the opportunities to break him are kind of few and far between when you get ‘em,” said Harrison. “Whenever they did come, I was trying to play as composed and aggressively as I could."

Harrison got off to a quick start, breaking Raonic for the early lead in the opening set. But Raonic would get the break right back and went on to win the first set in a tiebreaker.

In the second set momentum began to shift to Harrison’s side as his movement at the baseline and excellent groundstrokes forced Raonic from side to side, and a late break allowed the American to win the hour long second set.

The third sit was a mirror image of the second, as Harrison was able to sneak out two breaks, and saved nine of his own in the frame to take the two-sets-to-one lead.

With Raonic slowed down by injury, Harrison pounced on his chances. He hit just six winners in the fourth set, but faced no break points and committed just one unforced error, putting together a near perfect set to close out the victory.

“I can thank qualifying all summer for my physical fitness today. I started playing qualifying in D.C. I played qualifying in Toronto. I played, obviously, a lot of qualifications this year,” Harrison said of how coming through qualifying has prepared him for the conditions. “Just that match count of being in the heat for as many matches as I was, I certainly wasn’t feeling as tired as I would have been otherwise.

You are just excited that you’re a little bit more used to the conditions than someone who hasn’t played that. It’s a first match for the guy I played in the first round and it’s my fourth. If your body is not hurting, that’s going to be an advantage.”

In the third-round, Harrison will take on Cyprus’ Marcos Baghdatis, who defeated 32nd seed Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 earlier in the day.

Frenchman Gael Monfils rolled into the third-round with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jan Satral, setting up a matchup with Spain’s Nicolas Almagro who ousted 18th seed Pablo Cuvas 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-6(9).

Earlier in the day, Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber moved past Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-2, 7-6(7). The second seed will take on American teenager CiCi Bellis, who came back from a set down to beat fellow American Shelby Rogers 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. 

“I played very well in the first set. I moved good; I played good; I played my game,” said Kerber. “In the second set I was 4-1 up. It was still good for me, but I think she was playing better and she was going for it.

The last two games was not easy, but I was trying to stay focused and staying in rhythm.”

American Jack Sock cruised past Mischa Zverev 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, setting up a matchup with former champion and seventh-seed Marin Cilic, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky. 


Brian Coleman

 Brian Coleman is the Senior Editor for New York Tennis Magazine. He may be reached at brianc@usptennis.com

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