Milos Raonic was in strong command with Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round of the US Open and the Greek made life difficult for the Canadian veteran with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win in straight sets on Monday.
Surprisingly, Raonic lacked magic against the seventh-best ATP player at the National Bank Open in Toronto, his biggest challenge since returning to action in June. The Ontarian was usually very effective on serve, recording as many aces as double faults (8) and starting just 46% of his first balls.
Thus, Tsitsipas had a good game to take five of the 14 break points offered by his opponent. It crossed the first round after his nightmare last year when he lost to qualified Daniel Elahi Galan at the entrance of Flushing Meadows.
Raonic, the 337th racket in the world, had won his two duels with Tsitsipas so far.