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Milos Raonic knocks off Robin Haase to reach third round at Wimbledon

Jul 3, 2019 | 9:04 AM

WIMBLEDON, England — Canada’s Milos Raonic is off to the third round at Wimbledon.

The No. 15 seed from Thornhill, Ont., beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-6 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday, marking the Canadian’s second straight-sets win in a row.

Raonic, a runner-up at Wimbledon in 2016, will next face American Reilly Opelka. The world No. 63 upset No. 22 seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 in the second round.

Raonic, who has battled injuries throughout his career, took a medical timeout to deal with a lower left leg issue while trailing 5-4 in the third set. While he appeared to be in some pain afterward, he did manage to finish the victory.

Raonic fought back from a break down to win the first set in a tiebreak and then controlled the rest of the match with his powerful serve.

The Canadian had 32 aces, while Haase had nine. Raonic also had 64 winners, 37 more than Haase.

It marks the third straight year Raonic has reached at least the third round at Wimbledon.

No. 19 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal was scheduled to face French qualifier Corentin Moutet in the second round later Wednesday.

In women’s doubles first-round action, No. 4 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Yifan Xu of China downed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Fanny Stollar of Hungary 6-1, 6-3.

Dabrowski also found out Wednesday she’ll be seeded third with partner Mate Pavic of Croatia in the mixed doubles draw. Dabrowski and Pavic, who get a first-round bye, are coming off a loss in the French Open final.

Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil and Australia’s Matthew Ebden were scheduled to play a first-round men’s doubles match later Wednesday.

The Canadian Press