Raonic Wins Last Ever SAP Open in San Jose
World number 13-ranked Milos Raonic defeated the fourth-seeded Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-3 at the SAP Open in San Jose on Sunday, his third consecutive title at what will be the last ever SAP Open in San Jose. Raonic finishes with a 12-0 event record, winning all 24 sets he played during his three-year reign.
“It’s pretty awesome. It’s pretty special,” said Raonic. “It’s more than just the trophies that I have. It’s the little things that come with it. There was always the maple syrup story. The San Jose Sharks jersey. It all means a lot. With this event, that has had so many great champions, it’s pretty special. To sort of one-up it and three-peat is pretty awesome.”
Raonic improved to a 4-3 record in ATP World Tour finals and successfully defended 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points. The Canadian became the first player in the Open Era to win three Bay Area titles in a row and first since Tony Trabert achieved the feat from 1953-55. He did not drop serve during his triumph this week, holding in all 39 games. The top-seeded Raonic never found himself in trouble on serve against Haas. He fired 19 aces, won 29 of his 32 first serve points and did not face a break point. Raonic closed out the victory by breaking Haas for the third time in the final game to win the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting in 75 minutes.
The SAP Open will be headed to Brazil after 125 years in California. The event was first played in 1889 and has included champions such as Fred Perry, Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick before Raonic completed a hat trick of wins on Sunday.
"It’s been one of the landmarks of the tour," said former player and broadcaster Justin Gimelstob, who is also an ATP board of directors member. "There are so many great champions who have won here. This negative trend is very disappointing."
In addition to the San Jose Open, California lost another of its pro events last year when the Los Angeles Open was sold and relocated to Bogota, Colombia.
"The fact that we are losing another event in California … It’s stunning to me we are allowing these things to happen," said former player Leif Shiras. "I look at France—they hang on to their events. If one city’s event is not working they find another place for it to work and it’s a wonderful way to keep their players plugging into the highest levels of game. In terms of player development and exposure to highest levels of game, I think it’s worst possible scenario for the U.S."
