Milos Raonic is back and he really surprised with his performance in his first match at the 2023 Libema Open.
Without a doubt, the Canadian is one of the best grass-court players ever, reaching the 2016 Wimbledon final. Raonic's game suits the surface, but when he announced his return to the ATP Tour, no one expected him to be so competitive already in his first match.
Over the past few months, we've seen Dominic Thiem on the ATP Tour, but also the likes of Sofia Kenin on the WTA Tour, struggle to get back to the top form after injury struggles, so there were no big expectations tied to Raonic's return.
And early on in the first set, it looked like the Canadian may struggle against the fifth-seeded Miomir Kecmanovic. In his first two service games, he made five double faults, offering his opponent a total of five break points.
The Serbian was able to take advantage of one of those break points, but thanks to one good service game, Raonic also got one break and so early in the first set, the score was tied at 2-2.
And that was exactly when the Canadian started to find his serves and hit aces left and right. He never allowed to have his opponent another break point in the first set, and used his chances to break, winning the first set 6-3.
But what was really impressive was Raonic's second-set performance. The Canadian hit 10 aces and dominated on his serve, using his powerful serve and forehand combo.
He never allowed Kecmanovic to have another break point in the match, and after applying pressure already in the first game of the second set, he got the needed break and won the match 6-3, 6-4 in only an hour and 25 minutes.
In the second round, Raonic will await either Jordan Thompson from Australia or French 19-year-old talent Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. After the match, he was very happy to return and especially, play in front of people.
"It's nice to be, after almost two years now and stepping away for a very long time, to be here and to be giving it one more try. I wanna see how far it takes me and it was a real pleasure playing in front of the people again."
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