Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario, pulled off an impressive little upset on Monday when he defeated Jesper de Jong of the Netherlands in the first round of the ATP tournament in Rotterdam. Raonic, ranked No. 309 in the world but reaching the Rotterdam main draw because of his protected ranking, beat de Jong, the world’s 141st player, 7-6, 6-4. Raonic defeated De Jong 7-5 in the first set tiebreak.
A major reason for Raonic’s success was the power of his serve. Raonic had 20 aces while De Jong had seven. Raonic will next face eighth seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in the second round. Raonic won their only previous meeting, which was in the second round of St. Petersburg in 2020, which Raonic won 6-3, 6-2.
Raonic is one of three Canadians still competing in major tennis tournaments around the world. Also in Rotterdam, Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec, is through to the second round after defeating Maxime Cressy of the United States 7-6, 7-6. Meanwhile, Leylah Annie Fernandez is through to the third round in Doha after defeating Paula Badosa of Spain 0-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.
Next up for Auger-Aliassime is second seed Andrey Rublev of Russia. Rublev has won three of four meetings, but Auger-Aliassime’s only victory came in the 2022 Rotterdam semi-final 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. Fernandez’s next opponent is Qinwen Zheng of China, the fifth seed and 2024 Australian Open finalist. Fernandez won their only previous meeting. That happened in the second round of Monterrey, Mexico, in 2022, which Fernandez won 6-1, 4-6, 7-6.
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