Unhittable Raonic continues breakout season at Indian Wells

After watching big-time tennis for a number of years, I think I've found the equivalent: standing in against a world-class server who not only has a wicked kick delivery in his arsenal, but has no fear of using it under any circumstances. I'm seeing a bit of that in Milos Raonic, the 20-year-old Canadian whose prodigious talent has taken the sport by storm. In his second-round match Sunday at Indian Wells, Mardy Fish was the helpless-looking guy on the other side of the net.

Fish actually comported himself well against Raonic's thunderous, unpredictable serves, getting many of them back in play with a measure of authority, but in the match's crucial moments, Raonic turned into Koufax, or Bob Gibson, or Tim Lincecum. He became unhittable.

At some point today, we'll know how Raonic fared against 18-year-old Ryan Harrison, the best of America's up-and-coming teenagers. We know this already: Raonic turned Fernando Verdasco, one of the world's top players, into a muttering, excuse-making defeatist after two recent conquests. He beat Fish in a three-setter in the Memphis semifinals. On Sunday, Fish had a much better idea what he was up against -- but the additional knowledge didn't help. Raonic pulled out a 7-5, 6-4 victory that added a couple of layers to his growing reputation.

Raonic apologized to Fish afterward for taking such an extended break for physical treatment (sore lower back) in the first set. That was a classy move on Raonic's part, but more to the point, it's remarkable to think he played that second set at something less than 100 percent.

Fish had one real shot to take control of that match, holding a set point at 5-4 in the first set, and he badly netted a backhand. Raonic, whose meteoric rise came from nowhere (he was playing Futures events as recently as last year), made no mistake in closing it out. Fast-forward now to Raonic serving for the match at 5-4, but Fish holding a break point at 30-40.

On any given first serve, Raonic is likely to unleash a flat, penetrating, 140-m.p.h. bullet that he can place to either wing. But you're never quite sure; he's likely to throw a changeup at the unlikeliest time. Sure enough, Raonic chose this moment to use the kick on his first serve, a radically-bouncing thing that removed any chance of a wheelhouse backhand return. Fish sailed it long, and when Fish earned himself another break point a few moments later, the exact same thing happened.

Raonic blew a chance to finish off the match when he scuffed a fairly routine forehand volley on his first match point. But when the second one came around, you wondered what was going through Fish's mind. Could he dare gamble on the kick option, maybe get a jump on connecting with a high backhand return? It seemed a reasonable thought, but Raonic unleashed the hammer, and an off-balance Fish could only float a backhand that Raonic drilled right into the winner's circle with a punishing forehand.

Raonic has a lot of things going for him: youth, brazen confidence, and an increasingly big game off both wings, especially the forehand. It's the unpredictability of his serve, and his utter lack of fear, that has really drawn people's attention.

Looking elsewhere at Indian Wells:

Tennis Channel: A critic's first comment must always be this: Thank goodness it exists. This network has brought both tours into our living rooms in a manner deemed inconceivable in past years. It could use a bit of touch-up work, however.

As Saturday's play unfolded, the network inexplicably ignored a couple of spectacular episodes in American tennis. It should have been evident, early on, that Donald Young was throwing a big-time scare into Andy Murray on Stadium 2. But TC stayed glued to Del Potro-Ljubicic, with an occasional taste of Ferrer-Karlovic, to the point where the Young-Murray match wasn't shown until Young had a 5-4 lead in the first-set tiebreaker.

Even after Young won that set, TC failed to grasp the significance. We didn't get another glimpse of the match until Murray was down 5-3 and about to go down. "This would be huge," said the tremendously boring Tracy Austin (she's no Mary Carillo) a few points before the finish. Wow, no kidding.

I'll admit, going into the tournament, I had no interest in watching Young. Not after seing him fall so horribly short in character-revealing matches over the years. But when the tide starts turning toward an upset of this magnitude, somebody has to notice. And TC didn't stop there, showing only a few seconds of Harrison's epic win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez -- the 152nd-ranked player beating No. 25.

Murray's loss: Perhaps it wasn't so hard to figure, as he's been in a lamentable funk since the Australian Open semifinals. But Murray simply doesn't lose to guys ranked that low (Young was No. 143) or owning so few credentials. It's always an established player that takes him down. The last Murray defeat that even remotely compares came in May of 2007, at the Hamburg tournament on clay, when he lost to No. 139 Fabio Fugnini of Italy.

The Prospect Watch (aside from Raonic and Harrison):

Kei Nishikori: Everyone was looking forward to the Brad Gilbert-coached kid playing Roger Federer in the third round, perhaps even upsetting the great man (really?), but Nishikori lost in the first round to Igor Andreev.

Bernard Tomic: Fans got a typically odd, beguiling match from the teenager in shades, his strategy appearing to shift on a whim. Unfortunately for tournament intrigue, he came up short against Viktor Troiki in the second round, 6-4, 6-4.

Richard Berankis: Got his shot at Verdasco in the second round, but had to withdraw in the second set while trailing 7-5, 2-0.

Alexandr Dolgopolov: Showed a bit of flair against Del Potro, but proved to be no match for his power and experience, 7-6, 6-3.

The Missing: Sorry to see Jelena Dokic absent after her breakthrough victory at Kuala Lumpur, lifting her ranking to No. 61. Dokic wasn't figuring on such a career resurgence at the time of Indian Wells' entry deadline, and her tournament win occurred too late for her to earn a wild card.

Maria Sharapova: There was no excuse for Sharapova needing nearly three hours to put away Anabel Meina Garrigues. She had two match points in the second set, drilled a couple of backhands long, wound up in a tiebreaker and lost it in a sea of errors and double-faults. Then she came back and crushed a very big hitter, Aravene Rezai, in straights. Love the determination on Sharapova's face, the unrelenting self-belief. It never, ever goes away.

Ana Ivanovic: Her many fans have been discouraged to witness Ivanovic's erratic play and glaring lack of confidence over the past couple of years, but she scored a decisive and soul-satisfying win Tuesday, 6-4, 6-2 over defending champion Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round. These two Serbian players have become increasingly heated rivals (Jankovic bitterly mimicked Ivanovic's fist-pumping habit last year in Madrid), and Ivanovic punctuated at least a dozen big shots with a triumphant shout. Jankovic had won their only two meetings since the 2008 French Open semifinals, but she had no match for Ivanovic's raw desire and trademark inside-out-forehands. Now comes a quarterfinal -- most likely against Kim Clijsters -- that could lift Ivanovic back into the mainstream conversation.

The Setting: Everyone raves about Indian Wells, and several journalists have noted the superb fields and lively crowds for the doubles. Flip side: The stadiums are empty -- and I mean, like 18 people -- for those late-morning matches.