One for the future: Raonic serves up great potential

The stealth and speed of the return caught Hanescu by surprise,yorking him on the baseline like a backfooted batsman inside the crease.

From a long way behind the court,Milos Raonic tested the elasticity of the tennis ball by letting one rip off his backhand faster than Victor Hanescus 197 kmph first serve arrived down the T. The stealth and speed of the return caught Hanescu by surprise,yorking him on the baseline like a backfooted batsman inside the crease. Splitting his legs more by instinct than judgement,Hanescu flicked a dramatic return with his racquet placed between his heels. The ball sat up in the middle of the court for Raonic to kill,but his forehand spun more than intended,and Hanescu cracked a delicious backhand winner past the wrong-footed volleyer.

This point,a crucial one for Hanescu at 40-15 in the fourth game of the first set,was perhaps the most intense rally of the day. Thats what it took for the Romanian to put his name on the scoreboard for the first time.

Unfortunately for Hanescu,it was one of the only points in the entire match where he could keep up with the ferociousness that the fourth-seeded Canadian brought with him to Chennais centre court. For the remaining 37 points that the first set lasted,and a total of 74 minutes that the match did,Hanescu was but a barn caught in Raonics 6-1,6-4 storm.

Wawrinka stretched

Not bad for a boy who lost the qualifiers here last year to Edouard Roger-Vasellin the man who stretched defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka to three sets 3-6,6-3,7-5.

Ranked 156th in the world at the beginning of 2011,Raonic failed to make it to Chennais main draw two weeks before becoming the first qualifier to reach the pre-quarters of the Australian Open in 12 years. More importantly,his career ranking moved 119 spots to 37th within the space of a month. It was something every pundit and player in the world noticed,as the Montenegro-born Canadian won the ATP Newcomer of the Year award for peaking at 25 in his breakthrough season.

Rafael Nadal claims that he expects the man known as The Missile on the circuit to break into the top-10 very soon,while John McEnroe believes that Raonic,the next big thing will be the one to break out of the pack.

On Wednesday,break out he did.

Raonic conceded just nine points in the first set,but even that did the 26-minute period no justice. With the fastest serves recorded on this court since the inception of this event in Chennai,the 65 Canadian blew his opponent away primarily with nine aces that ranged between 225-232 kmph. But the 31st ranked lad wasnt the regular one-dimensional big server,as his court coverage and all-round game proved. The serve inspired by Sampras and paced like Roddick was just one of his many strengths.

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To break Hanescu for the first time in the match,Raonic showed that he wasnt afraid to get into a one-on-one duel,soon winning it with one of the biggest forehands in the game today.

Ragging the Romanian from corner to corner,he employed his firm backhands to flatten cushion balls like backcourt smashes. At 15-15 and 3-1 up,Raonic pushed deep into the ad court,before wheeling to the net and completing the softest of drop shots. A 229 kmph serve followed,and Raonic wasnt the only one thinking of the next set.

Although Raonic himself struggled to keep up with his fury in the second set,a single break of Hanescus serve in the pivotal seventh game was enough to clinch a quarterfinal meeting with Israels Dudi Sela.

Wednesdays Results

Singles: Dudi Sela (ISR) def Benoit Paire (FRA) 4-6 6-2 6-4,Go Soeda (JPN) beat 5-Ivan Dodig (CRO) 7-6(6) 6-3; Doubles: Leander Paes/ Janko Tipsarevic def Milos Raonic/ Vasek Pospisil 6-3 4-6 10-7. Mahesh Bhupathi/ Rohan Bopanna def Xav-ier Malisse/ Marx Skupski 5-7 6-3 10-7