By Canadian Press

Canada’s Raonic a winner in Grand Slam return, beats Novak in Wimbledon opener

Jul 5, 2023 | 10:46 AM

LONDON — Milos Raonic made a successful return to Grand Slam tennis on Wednesday with a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-1 win over Austria’s Dennis Novak in first-round action at Wimbledon.

The hard-serving Canadian fired 28 aces in his first match at a tennis major since losing to Novak Djokovic in the round of 16 of the 2021 Australian Open.

Raonic overcame a pair of rain delays and wore down the Austrian qualifier before clinching the match in two hours 38 minutes with a dominant fourth set.

The 32-year-old won the match’s last five games and moved on after delivering an ace on his second match point chance.

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., returned to action last month after missing almost two years with a variety of injuries.

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The former world No. 3 and 2016 Wimbledon finalist entered this year’s grass-court Grand Slam with an ATP Tour ranking of 849th.

Raonic will next face the winner of a match between American 16th seed Tommy Paul and Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki.

Wednesday promised to be a busy one for Canadians after rain played havoc with the schedule at All England Club, suspending or postponing a host of matches early this week.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., continued his first-round match with Moldova’s Radu Albot, which was suspended Monday due to darkness.

Carol Zhao of Richmond Hill, Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga, Ont., and Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino were scheduled to play first-round matches Wednesday.

Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., is set to take on fifth seed Caroline Garcia of France in women’s second-round action on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 5, 2023.

The Canadian Press