Roger Federer toughs it out with Raonic for 3rd round in Madrid Masters

MADRID, Spain — Roger Federer had to use all his guile and experience to battle back from a set down and see off fast-rising Canadian Milos Raonic 4-6 7-5 7-6 in the Madrid Open second round on Wednesday.


The Swiss maestro, after an opening round bye at the Masters claycourt event, was playing his first match since the end of March and only just edged out the big-serving Thornhill, Ont. native, who rocketed down 21 aces on the Manolo Santana show court.


Rafa Nadal made much smoother progress into the last 16, dispatching former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko 6-2 6-2 before joining widespread criticism of the unfamiliar blue courts, a controversial innovation at this year’s tournament.



Third-ranked Federer, who next plays French 14th seed Richard Gasquet, struggled to make any impression on the Raonic serve in the opening set and instead was broken himself in the ninth game before the 21-year-old served out to take the first set.


The Swiss 16-times grand slam singles champion levelled the match thanks to an exquisite drop shot before surviving several scares on his serve in the deciding set and then running away with the tiebreak 7-4 as the young pretender’s nerve failed.


Federer, chasing a fourth title of the year, sealed victory on his first match point with a ripping forehand return that caught the line.


Raonic’s best result before Wednesday was his surprise victory over fourth-ranked Andy Murray at the Barcelona Open last month.


It was his second match against Federer after their clash at the Indian Wells Masters event in March when Raonic, who is ranked 23, also won the first set before losing 6-7 6-2 6-4.

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Quite the seesaw of a match (I honestly thought he was a goner in the 2nd set still not sure how he pulled it off!), but considering what's ahead for Federer probably a good test after such a long time off.

It's nice to see him out on that court again :).

And despite varied opinions on the blue clay (or smurf clay as some refer to it) I really like it makes the yellow ball jump out more when watching on t.v.  easier to see when a player is painting the lines.  Looks pretty cool too.