By Canadian Press

Canada’s Milos Raonic powers through to third round at National Bank Open

Aug 9, 2023 | 12:37 PM

TORONTO — Canada’s Milos Raonic used his strong serve to power his way to a 6-4, 6-3 second-round win over Japan’s Taro Daniel at the National Bank Open on Wednesday.

The Thornhill, Ont., native had 15 aces to just two double faults and broke on two of his seven opportunities.

Daniel, 30, had three aces to two double faults and went without a break point opportunity throughout the one hour 30-minute match.

Raonic entered Wednesday’s match having defeated ninth-seeded American Frances Tiafoe on Monday in his first appearance at the NBO since 2019 and first in Toronto since 2018.

The 32-year-old Raonic was granted one of four wild-card berths into the tournament.

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Raonic had just four matches entering the NBO after making his return to the ATP Tour in June. The former world No. 3 had been out since July 2021 with an Achilles tendon issue and toe injuries.

The opening set was a back-and-forth affair, with Raonic finding most of his success on serve.

The Canadian fired two aces en route to winning the first game, and along with some forehand winners, hit two more aces to earn him a 2-1 edge to the delight of the Sobeys Stadium crowd.

Daniel capitalized with some cross-court winners and some of Raonic’s mistakes to continuously even the score while on serve.

It wasn’t until the 10th game where either player won a game on return. With a 5-4 lead in hand and in deuce, Raonic won the set thanks to consecutive errors from Daniel.

Raonic had eight aces in the opening set, the last of them coming in the ninth game.

In the second set, Raonic jumped out to a 3-0 advantage, taking the last point by forcing Daniel to sprint cross court and return his forehand shot wide.

Raonic extended his lead to 4-1, continuing to challenge Daniel with his serve. Raonic forced a wide return on his serve to make it 40-0 before sealing the game with his 10th ace.

Following chants of “Let’s Go Milos!” from the home crowd after Daniel won the next game, Raonic fired off three consecutive aces before forcing a long return from Daniel on yet another strong serve to win the game.

After dropping the next game to Daniel behind multiple errors, the crowd again rallied behind Raonic with a standing ovation.

Serving on match point, Raonic sealed it with his 15th ace of the match, bringing the Toronto crowd to its feet.

In other men’s singles action, sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev fell out of the tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 second-round loss to American Mackenzie McDonald. Eighth-seeded American Taylor Fritz outlasted France’s Ugo Humbert 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3.

Canada’s Gabriel Diallo was scheduled to play Wednesday afternoon against Australia’s Alex de Minaur.

The 21-year-old Montreal native won his first ATP Tour level match on Tuesday against Britain’s Dan Evans to advance into the second round.

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is also scheduled to play Wednesday, taking on American Ben Shelton in the evening session after receiving a bye into the second round.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

Abdulhamid Ibrahim, The Canadian Press