Canadians Milos Raonic, Denis Shapovalov win tournament openers

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Canada’s Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov are off to the second round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.

The fourth-seeded Raonic downed Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 (8), 7-5 in a first-round match on Tuesday.

Shapovalov, seeded 10th, then beat Croatian qualifier Franko Skugor 7-5, 6-3.

It marked Raonic’s first match since a quarterfinal loss to Lucas Pouille at the Australian Open last month. After that match, Raonic said he suffered a knee injury.

World No. 14 Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., didn’t face an easy draw as Kohlschreiber is ranked 32nd.

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Shapovalov, of Richmond Hill, Ont., is ranked 25th, well ahead of the 351st-ranked Skugor.

Raonic will face Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in the second round on Wednesday. It’s a rematch of a second-round Australian Open match, won by the Canadian.

Shapovalov will meet Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

If both Canadians win, they’ll square off in the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 event.

The Canadian Press