Wimbledon tennis: Milos Raonic beats Novak in 1st round
LONDON –
Milos Raonic made a successful return to Grand Slam tennis on Wednesday with a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Austrian Dennis Novak in the first round at Wimbledon.
The hard-working Canadian fired 28 aces in his first match at a tennis major since losing to Novak Djokovic in the round of 16 of the 2021 Australian Open.
It was also Raonic’s first appearance with the All England Club since 2019. He was a Wimbledon finalist in 2016.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., the 26th seed in the men’s, also advanced to the second round with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Moldova’s Radu Albot to earn a completed a game that was suspended. in the second set on Monday.
Raonic overcame a few rain delays and beat the Austrian qualifier before winning the match in two hours 38 minutes with a dominant fourth set.
The 32-year-old won the last five games of the match and moved on after delivering an ace on his second match point opportunity.
Raonic, of Thornhill, Ontario, returned to action last month after missing nearly two years with several injuries.
The former world No. 3 entered this year’s Grand Slam on the grass court with an ATP Tour ranking of 849th.
Raonic next takes on Tommy Paul, the American as the 16th seed. Raonic won the only other meeting between the two at a 2021 hard court event in Acapulco, Mexico.
Wednesday was a busy one for Canadians after rain disrupted the All England Club’s schedule, causing the suspension or postponement of a large number of games early this week.
Shapovalov’s match with Albot resumed after being suspended for darkness with the Canadian trailing 5–7, 2–2.
Shapovalov complained to the chair umpire on Monday, accusing the Moldovan of quickly changing positions as a distraction tactic.
After a day to cool down, Shapovalov was all set to win the next three sets. He won the game on his seventh break on 16 chances when Albot double fouled while facing match point.
Shapovalov next takes on France’s Gregoire Barrere, who is ranked 49th on the ATP Tour.
In the women’s action, qualifier Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill was defeated in her Grand Slam main-draw debut, falling 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch.
Meanwhile, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., had moved her first-round match against Hungary’s Anna Bondar to Thursday, when Raonic, Shapovalov and Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., will play in the second round.
Fernandez, who has not played since winning her first round match on Monday, will face fifth seed Caroline Garcia of France.
Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino did manage to participate in part of her first-round match against Irina-Camelia Begu before being suspended with the Romanian leading 6-2, 2-4.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 5, 2023.
