Raonic through to Round 2 Down Under

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (NEWS1130) – Canada’s Milos Raonic fired 30 aces and overcame a slow start to beat Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-6 (0) in two hours and 25 minutes in first round play of the Australian Open.

Raonic looked shaky in the first set as he gave up a break without threatening to earn one himself, but he turned things around quickly after that.

The 13th-seed from Thornhill, Ont. earned a pair of breaks in each of the second and third sets to pull within a set of victory. Overall, Raonic converted on four of his 15 break opportunities.

In the fourth set tiebreak, Raonic looked dominant winning all seven points to advance.

Raonic relied on his trademark serve to move on, winning 82 per cent of his first serve points. His serve hit as high as 223 Km with an average speed of 196 Km on his first serve.

The 22-year-old put up 57 winners to Hajek’s 24, while also hitting 50 unforced errors.

Raonic will meet the winner of a match between Jamie Baker and Lukas Rosol.

Earlier in the day, Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino was ousted by China’s Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-0.

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