By Chris Oddo | Sunday May 29, 2016
Entering Roland Garros on the heels of a 6-1, 6-1 shellacking from Stan Wawrinka in Geneva, Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas didn’t know what to expect. Add to that the fact that he had lost his opening match at Roland Garros in each of the last four years and had only advanced past the first round at a major in five of 19 attempts, and one could certainly understand why the talented Spaniard entered Roland Garros not really convinced that he could make a run.
More: Muguruza Downs Kuznetsova to Reach Third Consecutive Roland Garros Quarterfinal.
This week Ramos is finding out he can..
Ramos-Vinolas snapped a six-match losing streak against the Top-10 and won for the first time against Milos Raonic, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.
“Difficult to explain how I feel,” Ramos said. “It's a lot of emotions. I'm very, very happy. As I said, I lost I think four times in a row first round, and this year, quarterfinals for the moment.”
The Spaniard converted on five of 14 break points and hit 23 winners against 21 unforced errors.
“I think I returned very good,” he said. “The second serve, when he was serving the second serve, I returned very, very good. I played very smart all the match.”
Raonic was disappointed that he didn’t protect his serve better. “I have to say I'm disappointed I lost,” He said. “I think I lost, main reason was because the foundation of my game wasn't there. I didn't serve well. I think when I look back probably at a stat sheet, my numbers were probably pretty poor when it comes down to that. I gave myself opportunities on his serve, but the day is a lot easier for the other guy when I don't serve well.”
For Ramos-Vinolas, Raonic’s troubles were part of a big gift in Paris. “It's like a present for me, because, to be honest, I didn't expect this one when I arrive here,” he said. “Last week I lost to Wawrinka 6-1, 6-1 in Geneva. I was a little bit down. This is tennis. And now I feel great.”
Ramos-Vinolas will try to keep his luck alive when he meets Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals. Wawrinka, the defending champion, eased past Viktor Troicki in four sets.