Former World No. 3 Milos Raonic turned back time in what may be his farewell tournament on Canadian soil with a stunning three-set upset of ninth seed Frances Tiafoe at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers in Toronto on Monday night.
After dropping the first set in a 26-point tie-break that ended with a bizarre incident involving Tiafoe touching the net outside the singles post, the 32-year-old rallied to take the second set in a tie-break before racing to a 3-0 lead in the third en route to closing out a 6-7(12), 7-6(4), 6-3 win.
“Two years away, five years from playing in Toronto, a whole four years since I got to play in front of my parents, who were there for the majority of my matches as junior and a majority of my matches as a pro. All of these things came together for a great night for me and I’m incredible grateful for it,” Raonic said.
Raonic, who as the first Canadian to crack the Top 10 of Pepperstone ATP Rankings has inspired the current generation of countrymen including Felix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov, dropped 37 aces in his first appearance on home soil since 2019 and in his first hard-court match in more than two years.
Raonic’s 37 aces fell just one short of his record for a three-set match of 38, hit against Radek Stepanek at Memphis in 2011.
It was his first Top 10 win since 2020 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati (played in New York City due to the pandemic), where he beat No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals.
After nearly two years away from the sport following a succession of injuries – most notably to his Achilles – Raonic returned to the ATP Tour during the grass-court season, winning one match in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and one match at Wimbledon.
At the All England Club Raonic said his goals were to play in Toronto and at the US Open before reassessing what the future holds for him. He is currently No. 545 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
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In the final match of the evening, 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals competitor Matteo Arnaldi defeated home favourite Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4. It was the Italian’s first main draw win at a hard-court Masters 1000 event.