Milos Raonic serves against Ryan Harrison during their match in the SAP Open tennis tournament in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. Raonic defeated Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-2. (AP Photo/George Nikitin)The Associated Press
Milos Raonic, Canada's rising tennis star, will try to become the first player since Andy Murray did it in 2006 and 2007 to win the SAP Open title in San Jose, qualifying for Sunday's final with a 7-6, 6-2 straight sets victory over his American rival, Ryan Harrison.
Harrison won the last match against Raonic – last March at the Masters Event in Indian Wells, where they played in the third round – but he wilted in the second set, after Raonic won the tight opening first set in a tie-breaker. Raonic's serve was overpowering at times, clocking 150 m.p.h., and when he broke Harrison in the fourth game of the second set to take a 3-1 advantage, Harrison demonstrably sagged.
Raonic, the No. 3 seed, went into the tournament as the defending champion, which created a certain level of pressure because it forces him to defend the ATP tour points he won in the event last year. To do so, he will need to defeat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, who won a marathon 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 victory over France's Julian Benneteau in the night match later Saturday.
Istomin will need to come back on short rest in the match against Raonic Sunday afternoon, but he's had a giant-killing run through the draw, knocking off No. 2 seed Andy Roddick on Friday night before eliminating the No. 5 Benneteau.
Ranked No. 32 overall, Raonic was the highest seeded player in the top half of the draw after top-seeded Gael Monfils of France dropped out because of an injury.
In his match against Harrison, Raonic hit 20 aces, maintained a 77 per cent first serve percentage and won 84 per cent of his first serve points. Raonic maintained his perfect tiebreak record in San Jose (7-0) when he won the opening set and broke the match open in the second frame by breaking Harrison's serve twice. He converted his third match point opportunity with an inside out forehand winner.
Raonic becomes the first player to reach two ATP World Tour finals in 2012 after winning his second career title in Chennai during the first week of the season.
The SAP tournament is played in the home of the San Jose Sharks, who are currently in the midst of a nine-game NHL road trip. Raonic is finding San Jose, his new home away from home, comfortable.
"Maybe I'll be the new biggest Sharks fan out there," said Raonic. "It's really great, how well I'm doing here. It's fun. It's great. The people are amazing. It feels awesome to come back to all these great memories and then to have them keep going."
Istomin is currently ranked No. 61, but has been as high as No. 39 in the rankings.