Murray beats Raonic to claim second Wimbledon title

Dulling big serves with quick-reflex returns, conjuring up daring passing shots and playing impressively mistake-free tennis all the while, Murray beat Milos Raonic 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) on Sunday for his second trophy at the All England Club and third Grand Slam title overall.

Raonic, seeded No. 6 coming into the tournament, shocked Roger Federer in an exciting five-set victory to advance to his first grand slam finale.

The sixth-seeded Raonic heads into the first Grand Slam title match of his career – and the first for a man representing Canada – having won 116 of his 121 service games (96 percent) across six matches.

This was his second Wimbledon title and his third overall Grand Slam win.

It was crucial for his chances that he did the same here but he found himself under huge pressure again in the seventh game and Murray capitalised.

Raonic’s hopes seemed to rest with defending his own serve and that was rarely at threat in the second set.

Besides, it was Murray’s first final from 11 at the majors where he wasn’t’t facing either Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer against whom he has lost eight times. At that point, Murray curtailed a 77-year British male drought that yawned back to Perry in 1936.

And he came to Wimbledon with only a 16-6 match record and zero titles in 2016, the first time since 2000 that he went this far into a season without winning a tournament.

Raonic settled into the second set better, and although Murray got to see four break points on his way to the tie-break, the door was quickly slammed in his face by the strength of the Raonic serve.

“This one clearly hurts because I felt I could have had it”, Federer said.

“It was just in the tight situations, I think I maybe dealt with them a little bit better because I’ve had more experience of these matches and these situations”, Murray said. Raonic finally hit the net at 2-5 down to give Murray an emotional victory at Centre Court.

Rekindling his coaching partnership with Ivan Lendl, who guided Murray to his two previous major triumphs, has also added an extra dimension to his game.

Raonic took a big step in his career when he beat Federer, a living legend, in five sets in the semifinals after losing to him two years ago in straight sets in the semifinals here. He also won the U.S. Open in 2012, a few weeks after winning the Olympic gold medal at Wimbledon. The only other Canadian, man or woman, to get to a major final was Eugenie Bouchard, the women’s runner-up at Wimbledon in 2014.

Now the big Canadian will have to wait at least one more year before getting another chance to take the biggest step at Wimbledon.

“As a British-Canadian, I’ve always supported Murray”, she said.

IST: The Canadian survives a scare, holds serve to make it 2-1 in the first set. Lendl has been in Murray’s corner for all three of his major titles.