Milos Raonic waves to fans after winning his match against Sumit Nagal during round one of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., Thursday, March 7, 2024.
Milos Raonic of Canada smashed 47 aces on his way to toppling Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (9) in the first round of the Cinch Championships on Monday in London.
Raonic broke the ATP Tour record, tracked since 1991, for most aces hit in a best-of-three-set match, previously held by Croatian star Ivo Karlovic, who hit 45 in a match in 2015. Forty-seven of Raonic’s 70 total winners came via the ace.
Raonic took a 5-2 lead in the third-set tiebreaker, fell behind 7-6 and 9-8, then scored the final three points to finish the job. His next opponent will be either No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz or Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel, who will face off Tuesday.
No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria needed just 62 minutes to eliminate France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-2.
Australian Jordan Thompson upset No. 7 seed Holger Rune of Denmark 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3. Thompson’s countryman Rinky Hijikata led Frances Tiafoe 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 when Tiafoe retired.
Terra Wortmann Open
No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia needed a first-set tiebreaker before dispatching Portugal’s Nuno Borges 7-6 (4), 6-4 in opening-round action in Halle, Germany.
Medvedev earned a 9-7 edge in aces and saved 5 of 6 break points he faced. In the first-set tiebreaker, he established a 4-0 lead before fending off his foe. Medvedev’s next opponent will be China’s Zhizhen Zhang, who outlasted Austrian Sebastian Ofner 7-6 (8), 6-7 (3), 6-4 in two hours and 21 minutes.
Elsewhere, No. 5 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland beat Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 7-5, 7-6 (2), and German wild card Dominik Koepfer advanced when No. 8 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada retired down 6-4, 4-3. Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego and Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan also won their opening matches.
–Field Level Media
