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Booming Canadian Milos Raonic has stormed into the third round of Australian Open 2013 after taming Czech world No.75 Lukas Rosol 7-6(2) 6-2 6-3.
Twenty-two-year-old Raonic, the 13th seed, continued his promising form at Melbourne Park advancing past the second round of the Slam for the third straight year.
It was a battle of two 6ft 5in giants on Court 13, both players putting on a serving clinic much to the delight of the healthy crowd enduring the 38-degree Melbourne heat.
It was the Canadian, however, who was able to control his pace with a bit more class and accuracy, finishing the match with only one broken service game and 18 aces.
"I felt he (Rosol) was good when he guessed right, but as long as I kept him guessing I don’t feel like he could really hurt me too much on my serve," Raonic said after the match.
"As long as I knew as I was mixing it up, even if he got his racquet on it it’s not like he had hit it that many times in a row, he would be hesitating a little bit and wasn’t swinging as freely."
While the harsh Melbourne sun was in full force - as is usually the case during the Australian Grand Slam - the Canadian said he dealt with it well despite a few minor issues.
"(The heat) was a little bit tough, the thing is that you get a little bit dizzy," Raonic said.
"Other than that I don’t think it was really that hot because the sun was covered up most of the time... the air was just a little bit thick, so breathing and catching your breath was a little bit more difficult."
But the win was never set in stone for the world No.15, Rosol being no stranger to knocking off top seeds highlighted by his Wimbledon shocker against Rafael Nadal last year.
Players traded service games in the opening set, aided by their ability to either slam aces down the T at a blinding pace or take advantage of a poor return.
With scores locked at 6-6, Raonic secured an early mini-break in the tiebreak to go ahead 2-1 and from there he never looked back. Two aces, two Rosol unforced errors and a put-away volley in a matter of seconds helped Raonic steal the first set and subsequently all the momentum.
Rosol just didn’t look the same from there. The Canadian quickly deciphered his opponent’s punishing serve as he broke three times in the second set – a stark contrast from his zero in the opener – and cruised through 6-2.
The Czech’s 48 per cent first serve percentage in the third set brought him further headaches as Raonic kept pressing. It seemed as if the world No.15 could do no wrong when his first serve landed – with 85 per cent of first serve points won – and five more aces helped him ease to a 6-3 score in the third in only 30 minutes.
Raonic’s win sets up a third round showdown with 17th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber on Saturday.