Raonic, 20, Wins 1st ATP Title in San Jose

Canadian Milos Raonic defeated Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in
 the finals of the SAP Open in San Jose, CA to win his 1st ATP title

20-year-old Milos Raonic, the unseeded, 6'5" 200-pound Canadian player who reached the 4th round of the 2011 Australian Open, continued his excellent play by defeating defending champion (and erstwhile underwear model) Fernando Verdasco 7-6(6) 7-6(5). Raonic won his first ATP tour title and denied Verdasco his first chance to defend a tour title. The Canadian of Serbian descent (he was born in Montenegro) becomes the youngest man to win an ATP Tour title since Croatian Marin Cilic won the New Haven title at 19 in 2008. Raonic becomes the first Canadian to win a tour title since Greg Rusedski in 1995. He rises to #59 in the world rankings; he started the year at #184.

The final was played without a single break of serve. Verdasco held 4 consecutive set points at 6-2 in the first set tiebreaker and managed to lose the next 6 points to drop the first set. Raonic had a walkover in the semifinal over an injured Gael Monfils while Verdasco dismissed the always dangerous Juan Martin del Potro 6-4 6-4 in the other semifinal. In fact, Verdasco lost his service once in the entire tournament (against del Potro) and still did not defend his title.

Bzarrely, Raonic and Verdasco will meet again on Wednesday in the first-round of the hard-court tournament in Memphis.