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.
