The 2011 SAP Open is over and Canada once again has a champion on the ATP circuit.
Milos Raonic of Canada faced veteran Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the final of the 2011 SAP Open in San Jose as the Spaniard looked to repeat as champion.
Verdasco had some momentum in the first set, especially in the tiebreaker where at one point he lead Raonic 6-2. However the Canadian fought off 4 straight set points and went on to take the tiebreaker 8-6 to take the first set of the final and the lead in the championship match.
Unfortunately for all who were enjoying the match, it did not end without some controversy.
With Raonic serving at 6-5 in the second set tiebreaker someone from the crowd yelled, quite inappropriately, as Verdasco looked to return Raonic's serve and it appeared to effect the Spaniard as he mis-hit the ball quite badly. Crowd noises do not lead to replayed points however and Raonic was awarded the point and the title in what was a little bit of legitimate bad luck for Verdasco.
The title for Raonic is the first of what looks like it will be a promising career with prospects for the top 10. Furthermore, the title ends a title drought for Canadian tennis as no Canadian player had won a men's title since Greg Rusedski in 1995, a player who later self-identified as English.
Raonic takes down 250 ranking points with the victory, a substantial total for a player currently ranked 84th. He could be looking at a top 60 ranking on Monday as he had no ranking points to defend for the February 14th rankings and that will lead to a significant surge.
