Milos Raonic has got off to an impressive start at the Delray Beach Open with a swift 6-1, 6-4, win over Tim Smyczek.
The top seed experience little difficulty against his American opponent in what was his debut match at the Florida tournament. During the speedy encounter, which lasted less than an hour, Raonic fired 10 aces and lost just 10 points on his serve (a 80% winning rate).
Raonic’s win was his first since the Australian Open after being sidelined from action due to an abductor injury. He was forced to withdraw from Canada’s recent Davis Cup tie against Great Britain, where they lost 3-2.
“Overall I have to be happy. I haven’t played much tennis over the last few weeks, and I really put in as much work as I could over the last week to get into my best shape here, and now I’m here. I’ve won my first match and I hope I can continue,” Raonic told atpworldtour.com. “I feel good.”
Awaiting the world No.4 in the second round will be Croatia’s Borna Coric. Coric eased himself to a comprehensive 6-2, 6-3, win over Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo.
“It’s going to be a tough match, an exciting match. Hopefully I can continue to play well.” Raonic said about his upcoming second round clash with Coric.
Ivo Karlovic, who is the second seed in the tournament, failed to follow in Raonic’s footsteps as he crashed out in straight sets to Donald Young. With neither player facing a break point through the entire match, Young overcame Karlovic’s 19 aces to prevail 7-6(5), 7-6(3). It is the third consecutive tournament where the Croat has crashed out in his opening match.
in the last week, Donald Young has wins over 6'11'' Opelka, 6'10'' Isner, and 6'11'' Karlovic, and he is 5-0 in tiebereakers against them
— Ricky Dimon (@Dimonator) February 21, 2017
Earlier in the day, Jack Sock held his nerve to edge out Radu Albot 6-4, 7-6(2), in just under 90 minutes. The 24-year-old is chasing after his second ATP title of the season after winning the Auckland Open at the start of the year. Sock is currently ranked 21st in the world, just 15 points adrift from the top-20.
“It’s probably my eighth time playing here if you count the juniors. I have a lot of experience in Delray. I’ve played the junior clays here numerous times. So I have great memories here,” said Sock. “I feel a lot more confident this year, a lot stronger, excited to be back and hopefully for many more years.”
Finally, Bernard Tomic’s torrid start to 2017 has continued with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, loss to Steve Darcis. The Australian has only won two matches so far this season.
