Milos Raonic set up a second-round meeting with third seed Grigor Dimitrov on Monday, defeating Argentina’s Nicolas Kicker 6-3, 6-2 at the Mutua Madrid Open.
The two-time quarter-finalist (2015, 2016) took just 74 minutes to secure victory, hitting 17 aces to beat the Madrid debutant. Raonic has now won 10 matches on the ATP World Tour this season, highlighted by strong showings at the opening ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events of the season in Indian Wells and Miami. The Canadian reached the semi-finals in California and the quarter-finals in Florida before losing to Juan Martin del Potro on both occasions.
The World No. 24 secured the only break of the first set in the fourth game of the match and took a one-set lead after converting his sixth set point. The 27-year-old once again earned an early break in the second set and raced to victory, dropping just one point on serve throughout the set to advance to a fifth meeting with World No. 4 Dimitrov.
Raonic trails Dimitrov 1-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, having lost three consecutive matches to the Bulgarian in Australia since his sole victory at the Intrum Stockholm Open in 2011.
Damir Dzumhur also booked his place in the second round, beating France’s Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-2. The World No. 32 won 79 per cent of points behind his first serve, breaking the 36-year-old on four occasions to set up a second-round encounter against fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro.
Serbia's Dusan Lajovic needed exactly one hour to upset Open 13 Provence champion Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-2. The 27-year-old qualifier converted four of his five break-point opportunities and won 79 per cent of first-serve points to reach the second round.
Federico Delbonis required a final-set tie-break to overcome Germany's Mischa Zverev 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(6). The World No. 78 withstood nine aces throughout the first-round meeting which lasted just over two hours, converting his third match point to set a meeting with 2017 finalist Dominic Thiem. Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin also moved into the second round, beating Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena 6-3, 6-2.
Did You Know?
Milos Raonic’s best performances at the Mutua Madrid Open came in 2015 and 2016 where he reached the quarter-finals. On both occasions he was eliminated in straight sets by the eventual champion; Andy Murray in 2015 and Novak Djokovic in 2016.