By Canadian Press

Milos Raonic, Felix Auger-Aliassime heading to third round at Wimbledon

Jul 5, 2019 | 8:03 AM

WIMBLEDON, England — Canadians Milos Raonic and Felix Auger-Aliassime both are off to the third round at Wimbledon.

Raonic, the No. 15 seed from Thornhill, Ont., beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-6 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday, marking the Canadian’s second straight-sets win in a row.

Auger-Aliassime, the No. 19 seed from Montreal, beat French qualifier Corentin Moutet 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the ensuing match on Court 3.

Raonic, a runner-up at Wimbledon in 2016, will next face American Reilly Opelka. The world No. 63 upset No. 22 seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 in the second round.

Auger-Aliassime, 18, will face world No. 66 Ugo Humbert of France in the third round.

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Raonic, who has battled injuries throughout his career, took a medical timeout to deal with a left calf issue while trailing 5-4 in the third set. While he appeared to be in some pain afterward, he did manage to finish the victory.

“We will see how I wake up tomorrow, but I don’t think it should be (a problem),” Raonic said. 

Raonic fought back from a break down to win the first set in a tiebreak and then controlled the rest of the match with his powerful serve.

The Canadian had 32 aces, while Haase had nine. Raonic also had 64 winners, 37 more than Haase.

“There are certain things I wish I did better throughout certain parts of the match where I felt I could have been a bit more efficient when the opportunities to be aggressive presented themselves,” Raonic said. 

“But, you know, a match, especially three-out-of-five goes up and down a lot, and thankfully I was able to get the best of all three of those in important moments.”

It marks the third straight year Raonic has reached at least the third round at Wimbledon.

Moutet had his chances against Auger-Aliassime, but converted on only two of 14 break-point opportunities.

Auger-Aliassime broke the world No. 84 five times to lock down his second career Grand Slam win in three hours two minutes.

“I think I felt a bit nervous at the start of the match,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I think the circumstances being that I’m looked at as a favourite for this match and it’s also something different. I have played him before, but it’s big stages, big moments, so obviously the nerves come in and you can’t go against it.

“I tried to manage as best as I could. I think I was able to play well every time I had (a) break point to save and take my opportunity when I needed to.”

In women’s doubles first-round action, No. 4 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski of Ottawa and Yifan Xu of China downed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Fanny Stollar of Hungary 6-1, 6-3.

Dabrowski also found out Wednesday she’ll be seeded third with partner Mate Pavic of Croatia in the mixed doubles draw. Dabrowski and Pavic, who get a first-round bye, are coming off a loss in the French Open final.

In men’s doubles first-round play, Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil and Australia’s Matthew Ebden beat Dusan Lajovic and Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

— with files from The Associated Press

The Canadian Press