By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, August 7, 2023
Wild card Milos Raonic rocketed 37 aces stunning Frances Tiafoe 6-7(12), 7-6(4), 6-3 to battle into the Toronto second round.
Photo credit: Vaughn Ridley/Getty
The ball was a blur completing Milos Raonic's committed comeback splashing off the back wall.
Playing the Canadian Masters for the first time since 2019, Raonic threw one hell of a comeback bash and took thousands of Canadian fans along on a thrill ride.
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Wild card Raonic rocketed 37 aces, including slashing an ace on match point, stunning Frances Tiafoe 6-7(12), 7-6(4), 6-3 to battle into the National Bank Open second round.
Before a wildly enthusiastic home crowd that included his wife and parents, Raonic remained calm throughout a rousing return home.
"Five years since playing in Toronto, a whole four years since I've got to play in front of my parents, who were there for the majority of my matches in juniors and most of my matches in the pros," Raonic said. "All these things coming together in a great night for me.
"I'm incredibly grateful for it."
Apart from a brief debate with chair umpire Fergus Murphy and tournament referee Gerry Armstrong over the controversial the end of the opening set—Tiafoe touched the net after angling a drop shot winner but since he touched the area of the net outside the singles stick his set-clinching shot was good—Raonic barely uttered a word during a gripping two hour, 44-minute triumph.
The Raonic wrecking ball serve was screaming all night long.
The 2016 Wimbledon finalist won 61 of 70 first-serve points and saved 6 of 7 break points posting his first Top 10 since defeating No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the 2020 Cincinnati Masters semifinals.
Down 1-3 in the second-set tiebreaker, Raonic down shifted to a higher gear that Tiafoe, coming off a run to the quarterfinals of his home tournament in Washington, DC, simply could not match.
An assertive Raonic was clubbing his forehand with menacing resolve as he rolled through six of the last seven points to snatch the second-set tiebreaker.
US Open semifinalist Tiafoe never really recovered.
Though Raonic, playing his first Tour-level hard-court event since the 2021 Atlanta tournament, looked nearly spent at times in the final set Tiafoe could not capitalize. Tiafoe needed to try to stretch points and make the 32-year-old Canadian move, but Raonic was striking the ball with confidence.
Raonic saved three break points holding to open the decider then broke at love for a 2-0 lead.
When Raonic needed big serves, he often responded with his most lethal deliveries. Raonic repelled two more break points backing up the break for 3-0.
The former world No. 3 threw down successive love holds extending his lead to 5-2.
Serving for the second round, Raonic ripped an ace to erase one final break point before blasting his 37th ace out wide to seal a stirring win in style.