Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario, made tennis history on Monday, setting the record for most aces in a best-of-three match (47) with his 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the first round of the Queen’s Club Championship in London, England.
Raonic broke the record previously set by Croatian Ivo Karlovic. Karlovic hit 45 aces at the Halle Open in Germany in 2014, the first year the event was part of the ATP 500 series. Karlovic defeated Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-7, 6-3.
In Raonic’s victory over Norrie, Raonic lost the first set in a tiebreak 8-6 and won the third set in a tiebreak 11-9. Raonic and Norrie have had success on grass at Wimbledon in the past, with Raonic reaching the final in 2016 and Norrie reaching the semifinals in 2022.
Raonic’s victory over Norrie was considered a surprise according to the ATP rankings. Raonic is ranked 186th in the world and Norrie is ranked 39th.
Raonic next faces Taylor Fritz of the USA, the world No. 12 and No. 4 seed at Queen’s, in the second round on Wednesday. This will be their first head-to-head meeting. Despite being an ATP 500 event, the Raonic/Norrie match was not televised by TSN. Currently, the Fritz/Raonic match is not scheduled to be televised either. The matches at Queen’s will be shown on TSN+ but not on TV.
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