Achi news desk-
Milos Raonic was at his peak when he reached the Wimbledon final in 2016 before injuries ruined his promising career.
On Monday, the 33-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., said he is still a force to be reckoned with on the grass.
Raonic fired 47 aces, an ATP record in a three-set match, and came back to win 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (9) over Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the first round of the Queen’s Club. championships.
56 percent of Raonic’s service points came from serve.
“With the score and the need to save match points, I probably needed every one of them,” said Raonic, who faced match point twice in the third-set tiebreaker. “But my serve has always been the most important shot for me.
Raonic hit five of his aces in the tiebreaker, including one that went in at 232 kilometers per hour to set up match point.
The hard-serving Canadian surpassed the previous record of 45 set by Ivo Karlovic in 2015.
“This little record is something special, something significant,” Raonic said. “I’m happy that there’s also a win behind it because maybe I would have felt differently or maybe a little more sour if I’d gotten so many free points and lost the game.
“So all in all, a very positive thing and a fun statistic to be proud of.”
Milos Raonic of Canada serves to Taro Daniel of Japan during tennis action at the National Bank Open in Toronto on Wednesday, August 9, 2023. (Chris Young / The Canadian Press)
The men’s record for aces in any singles match is John Isner’s 113 in his marathon 11-hour victory at Wimbledon in 2010 over Nicolas Mahout, who had 103.
Raonic, whose previous record was 38 aces in a match in 2011, improved to 3-0 against Nouri.
The former world number 3, who came into the match at 186, will next face the winner of the match between Taro Daniel Hippny and fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz of the United States in the second round.
In other results Monday, Leila Fernandez of Laval, Que., cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Spain’s Sara Sorribes Torremo at the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham, England, and Montreal’s Felix Auger-Eliasima exited in his first round. Playing against Germany’s Dominik Kupfer at the Tara Wortman Open in Halle, Germany.
Fernandez, seeded sixth in Birmingham, broke Soribes Tormo six times in seven chances while fending off three of the four break points she faced to win the match in 63 tidy minutes.
She will meet the Swiss Victoria Gulovic in the second round.
Auger-Eliasima dropped the first set 6-4 and trailed 4-3 in the second when he retired from his match. He played his first grass match of the season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 17, 2024.
