Milos Raonic backed up his first-round upset of Frances Tiafoe in style on Wednesday at the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers, where the hometown favourite eased past Taro Daniel 6-4, 6-3 in Toronto.
The 32-year-old Raonic powered 42 winners, including 15 aces, to wrap a 90-minute win and improve his Lexus ATP Head2Head record against Japan’s Daniel to 3-0. Having pulled through a dramatic three-setter with Tiafoe on Monday with the help of 37 aces, Raonic did not face a break point against Daniel as he secured back-to-back wins at his home ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time since 2016.
“[The Tiafoe] match was difficult physically, emotionally on Monday. So to come back today and play a pretty clean match, it counts,” said Raonic in his post-match press conference. “It makes a difference today. It will make a difference for tomorrow, as well, so that’s something to be happy about.”
Raonic did not compete between July 2021 and June 2023 due to a series of injuries, and the Canadian has admitted he is unsure if this week’s event in Toronto will be his last on home soil. He nonetheless demonstrated few nerves on centre court at Sobeys Stadium as he notched a break of Daniel’s serve in each set to win consecutive tour-level matches for the first time since 2021 in Miami.
“To be honest, after playing well in the first round, having not played many matches back-to-back in a very long time, I really didn’t expect to play that well today,” said Raonic. “I knew it would be difficult. I know that one of the more difficult things is picking stuff up and carrying it from one day to the next and having that continuity. So I was very aware of that kind of potentially being the case.
“But I thought I did things pretty well, and I think I can play better tomorrow. So hopefully, I can build off that.”
The fourth-lowest player by Pepperstone ATP Ranking to reach the last 16 in ATP Masters 1000 history (since 1990), the World No. 545 Raonic will take on Mackenzie McDonald next in Ontario. The American earlier upset sixth seed Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3.
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Later on Wednesday, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina continued his red-hot start to his Toronto campaign with a 6-1, 6-2 win against 13th seed Alexander Zverev. The World No. 37 Davidovich Fokina did not face a break point and converted all four of his own to complete his first win in four Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Zverev in just one hour and one minute.
The Spaniard has dropped just five games across his opening two rounds in Canada following his first-round demolition of J.J. Wolf. He will hope to continue his form as he bids for a third-round upset against third-seed Casper Ruud.