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Milos Raonic’s powerful serve was in full effect Monday as the Canadian veteran defeated Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands 7-6 (5), 6-4 in first-round play at the ABN Amro Open tennis tournament.
Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., fired 20 aces and won 97 per cent of first-serve points in his first win of the season.
The former world No. 3 set himself up for victory with the only break of the match to take a 5-4 lead in the second set.
He then fired back-to-back aces to set up match point before closing out the win in one hour 42 minutes.
Raonic will next face the winner of a match between eighth seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and Croatian veteran Borna Coric.
Later Monday, Félix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal was scheduled to face Maxime Cressy of the United States.