When Milos Raonic is hitting his serves well, he's very hard to defeat.
Such was the case on Wednesday, when the Canadian hit 15 aces en route to a 7-6(8), 6-2 victory over Bosnia's Mirza Basic in the round of 32 at the 2018 Mercedes Cup. Raonic won an astonishing 97 percent of his first serves, setting the tone for a straight-sets victory over the world No. 78.
Despite the lopsided statistics, it wasn't as straightforward a victory that Raonic would've hoped for. Basic hit eight aces of his own, and pushed the Canadian to the limit in the opening set. A tiebreak was required to decide the first set, with the men needing 18 games to declare a winner.
The momentum from the opening-set victory definitely swung Raonic's way, as the 27-year-old cruised through the second set to claim the match and book a place in the round of 16. In total, Raonic's overwhelming service advantage, combined with a strong return game that resulted in two successful break points for the Canadian compared to none for Basic, proved to be the difference.
Raonic, now ranked 35th in the world, moves on to face Márton Fucsovics on Thursday.
Elsewhere in the tournament, Denis Shapovalov fell to world No. 169 Prajnesh Gunneswaran in three sets.