Fifth seeded Canadian Milos Raonic of Canada takes on wild card Philipp Petzschner of Germany in the first round match of 2012 Gerry Weber Open, Halle on Monday.

Raonic has 2-1 win loss record here and reached the quarter-finals in last year edition. The Canadian has been one of the most improved players on tour this year. He is definitely one of the players to watch in this season and if he continues to play at this level, he will soon crack the top ten. Further evidence that reiterates his fantastic season is the fact that he has already claimed two ATP titles in San Jose and Chennai. Raonic will be gunning for his fourth career title here at Halle.

His opponent: Philipp Petzschner has poor3-8 win loss record this year and would definitely want to post some wins under his belt in front of home crowd.

Both players have met three times before and Raonic leads 2-1 in head to head contest. In their only meeting on grass at same venue, Petzschner won 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3.

TennisEarth Pick: Raonic is much improved player than last year and should be able to win this one in straight sets.