Raonic Ready To Climb ATP Rankings Again

Former World No. 3 Milos Raonic, on the comeback from injuries in 2017, will be making his way up the ATP Rankings in the very near future.

The 32^nd seed won his second match in a row in Indian Wells, beating Portugal’s Joao Sousa 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open for the first time since his final run in 2016 (l. to Djokovic). Raonic missed last year’s tournament because of an injury to his right leg.

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The 6’5″ right-hander was broken in the second set, but regrouped in the decider, not facing a break point to run away with the match. The Canadian finished with 12 aces and won 93 per cent of his first-serve points (39/42). It’s the first time he has won back-to-back matches since the Citi Open in August 2017.

Raonic improved to 4-0 against Sousa in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and is now 3-3 on the season. His other win came against Japan’s Taro Daniel at the Delray Beach Open in February.

Raonic, who beat #NextGenATP countryman Felix Auger-Aliassime to face Sousa, will next meet Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, who improved to 3-0 against Dudi Sela of Israel in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win.

Baghdatis qualified for the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event and now has a chance of bringing his time in Indian Wells full circle. On debut, he made the quarter-finals in 2006. The 32-year-old, No. 102 in the ATP Rankings, is 1-3 against Raonic in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, with his lone win coming at 2012 Rolex Shanghai Masters.