Milos Raonic Starts Canada's Davis Cup Title Defence With Impressive Win

| by Evita Mueller

Milos Raonic made a surprise appearance at the Davis Cup Finals Final Eight, delivering the first point toward Canada's title defense aspirations.

Many expected Felix Auger-Aliassime to step up and play this match, but he didn't. Finland didn't nominate their best player either, as Emil Ruusuvuori is struggling with an injury.

World no. 782 on the ATP Tour, Patrick Kaukovalta, is quite an unknown player to many tennis fans, and he didn't have the same experience as Raonic and it showed.

The Finnish player struggled particularly with the return, as he couldn't touch Raonic at all. The Canadian put up a serving clinic, dropping only one point behind his first serve and only two points behind his second serve.

It was a pretty vintage showing from him as he bombed 18 aces as well. His opponent, for the most part, followed him up on that totalling 11 aces and dominating on his serve, but to a lesser degree.

He was losing points on both his first and second serve, especially the second, where Raonic was able to create pressure consistently.

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Raonic opted for a really aggressive approach from the start of the match, and he was pretty successful with it. He totaled twice as many winners as his opponent, which certainly contributed to the match.

The opening set was 6-3 for Raonic, while the second one was 7-5 as he gave Canada their first point against Finland.

They won the competition last year and are hoping to go all the way this year as well, but Auger-Aliassime not playing the first match is interesting. It could be a tactical choice or something else.

It doesn't really matter, as Raonic did the job in his first match since the US Open. It's good to see the veteran still kicking around, even though we don't know for how long it's going to last. Let's see if he plays any more matches at the competition.

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