Raonic Completes Dream Week, Dethrones Verdasco In San Jose

© Mark LyonsMilos Raonic (right) celebrates his first ATP World Tour title with coach Galo Blanco.

Milos Raonic became the first Canadian to win an ATP World Tour title in 16 years as he dethroned top seed and defending champion Fernando Verdasco 7-6(6), 7-6(5) Sunday at the SAP Open.

The 20-year-old Raonic, who was making just his eighth tour-level main draw appearance, earned $92,000 for winning the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament and is projected to move up to No. 59 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings on Monday.

“It’s something that came quicker than expected, but something amazing,” said Raonic, who became the youngest winner on tour since a 19-year-old Marin Cilic captured the New Haven title in 2008.

While World No. 9 Verdasco was contesting his 14th tour-level final and Raonic his first, the 84th-ranked youngster kept his composure as he faced down four set points in the opening set. He rallied from down 2-6 in the tie-break, winning six straight points to establish the lead.

“I just made one mistake with my forehand at 6-5. All the other points he played aggressive… He played good and he put all the returns in and not much I can do in that moment,” Verdasco said.

Raonic earned the only mini-break of the second set tie-break and clinched the victory on serve on his third match point. 

“When it gets close it sort of just comes down to who gets it that day,” said Raonic. “It comes down to a few points and I was there for it. I sort of used up my luck today, in a way. I got out of that first set and the second set I was a little bit more confident by then. It came out the way I wanted it to.”

Raonic did not drop a set en route to the title, losing serve once in four matches, and finished the week with a tournament high 58 aces in four matches, including 13 in Sunday’s final.

The Thornhill, Ontario, resident was just four years old when Canada last celebrated an ATP World Tour champion (Rusedski in 1995 Seoul), and hoped that his success would inspire the next generation of players. “If I can keep playing like this, then [hopefully it’ll] sort of start a movement to have more televised matches tennis-wise, and help the sport grow,” he said. “I think Canada does have that athleticism and the talent to have more players at the top. “

Raonic has made the biggest jump from the year-end South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings, moving from No. 156 at the start of the season to No. 84 coming into the week. He broke into the Top 100 for the first time after reaching the fourth round on his Australian Open debut, including a win over World No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny in the third round.

Reflecting on his season, Raonic said: “It’s been amazing... I came here and had probably my best week. I can’t stop smiling. I’m happy about it and I hope I can keep it going more than six weeks into the full year schedule and see where I am at the end of the year.”

With his victory over the World No. 9, Raonic joined a select group of individuals who won their first tour-level title with a victory over a Top 10 player in the final. Since 2000, only six other players had accomplished the feat: Albert Portas, Hyung-Taik Lee, Michael Llodra, Marcel Granollers, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mikhail Kukushkin.

“He has good potential and he has one of the best serves, and also on the baseline he plays so aggressive,” said Verdasco. “The moments he needs to play solid, he plays solid and I think that he can be a Top 20 player very soon. Now he’s going to be [ranked] 50-something, and it’s just the beginning of the year. He has all year to become a good player and I think he can do it.”

Verdasco, who lost 11 points on serve Sunday, was broken just once in 53 service games during the week. He dropped to a 5-9 record in tour-level finals.

The pair will meet again in the first round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, an ATP World Tour 500 tournament that gets underway Monday in Memphis.