This past Saturday in San Jose, Milos Raonic was matched up against American Sam Querrey, a hard-serving American who would figure to give him trouble even on his favourite surface, the one on which he’s never been beaten.

Querrey’s strength of a very good serve played to the Canadian star’s chief weakness which is return of serve, and the match figured to be a duel of tie-breakers to determine the winner.

But this is not really your old Raonic and if he can cement what happened this past weekend and show he can do it on other surfaces, you are genuinely looking at a player who will be in the top 10 in the not too distant future.

It's as if a light went on. Suddenly, instead of dumping returns short and into the middle of the court, which was his wont, the 22-year-old  from Thornhill, Ont., was pounding the ball deep, into corners, basically wherever he wanted it to go. He was in the zone. Never has he returned like this and he knows now the trick is to maintain that focus and level of play throughout the changes of surface the pro tour brings.

"I think the main thing was that I was focused before every point," said Raonic on a conference call Tuesday after he was able to carry his terrific return game through Sunday’s final over German Tommy Haas. "When I’m able to do that with 100 per cent intensity, it gives me more freedom in that I don’t have to think about it. It’s just a matter of bringing that to every match and I think that’s one of the best parts of my development."

There’s no question Raonic was significantly better than his performances in winning the previous two years at this tournament. He’s the second seed in Memphis this week and the fact he decided to take a red-eye flight there Sunday night may cause him problems, but there’s no doubt Raonic was on a very highly successful voyage of self-discovery in his return game this past week, something that looked for the longest time like it might never come.

He’ll be back in Vancouver in the first week of April to play Canada’s Davis Cup quarter-final against Italy and once again it’s going to be the same questions going in as were posed before the recent tie against Spain.

Raonic should win his two singles matches, but where will the other win come from. Against the Spaniards, Frank Dancevic played the match of his life to pull out that third win on Day One, but nobody in their right mind would expect that again. And while the Doug Mitchell arena will again make things difficult for the Italians who prefer slower surfaces, that win isn’t going to be easy to find even with No. 94-ranked Jessie Levine eligible to play this time around.

Raonic is happy to be coming back to Vancouver if for no other reason than to play once again on a surface which approximates the San Jose conditions.

"I feel good about it. I personally played well there, we played well as a team, I won all my matches there so we’re happy to be back. I feel I’m improving, the rest of the players are improving and the dynamic between the players is improving, and on top of that it’s important to me what playing Davis Cup does for the growth of tennis in Canada."

The Italians will be led by 19th ranked Andreas Seppi, who became the first Italian to break into the top 20 since Renzo Furlan in ‘96 by virtue of reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open this year, which has to speak well of his chances of competing extremely well on the quicker surface.

 Italy's No. 2 singles player will probably be 44th ranked Fabio Fognini, who teamed with countryman Simone Bolelli to reach the finals of the Australian Open doubles before losing to the Bryan brothers of the U.S. And along the way, the Italian pair cuffed aside Canada’s Daniel Nestor in the second round. And lest you think Fognini’s not used to pressure, he won the fifth and deciding match over Croatia’s Ivan Dodig in four sets to put his country into this quarter-final tie for the first time in 15 years.

"I know Seppi from watching him," Raonic was saying when asked to size up the Italians. "Never played him, practised with him, he’s got good hands, scrappy and likes to take the ball early. I’m friendly with Fabio and practised with him a couple of times and played an exhibition with him. He’s the kind of guy you have to beat, he’s not going to beat himself."

Davis Cup World Group quarterfinal

■ Canada (ranked No. 8 in world) vs. Italy (No. 9)

■ At UBC’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre

■ April 5-7

■ Best-of-five matches

■ Winner of moves on to semifinals in September against either Serbia or the U.S.

■ Tickets go on sale March 6