Toronto Masters: Raonic stuns Tiafoe to the delight of Canadian crowd

Playing in just his fifth match of the last two years, Canadian Milos Raonic has stunned No 9 seed Frances Tiafoe under the lights at the Toronto Masters, sending the American home 6-7 (12), 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Raonic, who at one stage didn’t touch a racquet for an entire year due to a myriad of injury struggles, simply wanted to play at home, in front of his parents, one more time.

Few thought he would make the second round at a tournament he hadn’t played since 2018, and yet, with a display of absolute serving prowess, Raonic will be back to play in the second round.

With the match lasting two hours and 45 minutes, the big-serving Canadian had time to thunder down 37 aces, winning 87% of his first serve points across the match. Under pressure he was phenomenal, saving 6/7 break points, including 100% of those he faced in the deciding set.

In return, Raonic took his chances – breaking Tiafoe twice, both times he saw an opportunity against the American.

Up next, Milos Raonic will play Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel, who caused an upset of his own earlier, ousting Adrian Mannarino in straight sets.

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Toronto Masters, other first-round matches (Aviva Centre, hard, USD 6,600,000):

• Taro Daniel beat Adrian Mannarino: 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Gael Monfils beat Christopher Eubanks: 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-1
• Thanasi Kokkinakis (Q) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 7-5, 6-4
• Hubert Hurkacz (15) beat Alexander Bublik: 6-3, 7-6 (2)
• Matteo Berrettini beat Gregoire Barrere: 6-4, 6-3
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat American J.J. Wolf: 6-0, 6-2
• Jiri Lehecka beat Brandon Nakashima: 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (2)
• Lorenzo Musetti (16) beat Yoshihito Nishioka: 6-4, 6-1
• Francisco Cerundolo beat Alexis Galarneau (WC): 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
• Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Max Purcell
• Ben Shelton vs. Bernabe Zapata Miralles
• Gabriel Diallo vs. Daniel Evans
• Alex De Minaur vs. Cameron Norrie
• Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Aleksandar Vukic vs. Borna Coric
• Ugo Humbert vs. Nicolas Jarry
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Andy Murray
• Mackenzie McDonald vs. Aslan Karatsev
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Sebastian Korda
• Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Marcos Giron
• Vasek Pospisil vs. Matteo Arnaldi
• Tommy Paul vs. Diego Schwartzman
• Cristian Garin vs. Miomir Kecmanovic