Wimbledon Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov advance to second round

(Wimbledon) Milos Raonic triumphed on his return to the Grand Slam tournament on Wednesday after beating Austrian Dennis Novak 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (5) and 6- 1 in the first round of the Wimbledon Open.

The Canadian had 28 aces in his first game at a major tournament since losing to Serbian Novak Djokovic in the 2021 Australian Open Round of 16.

Raonic shrugged off two rain-induced interruptions and overcame Novak after two hours and 38 minutes.

The 32-year-old veteran won the last five games and sealed the game after hitting an ace on his second match point.

Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., returned to competition last month after being plagued by numerous injuries for almost two years.

The former world No. 3 and finalist at Wimbledon in 2016 started the Grand Slam tournament presented on the grass by occupying the 849^e global level.

Raonic will face American Tommy Paul, 16, in the next round.^e seed, who defeated Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.

A busy day was expected for the Canadians on Wednesday after rain caused major schedule delays at the All England Club.

Ontario’s Denis Shapovalov was finally able to continue and complete his first-round duel against Moldova’s Radu Albot, which was interrupted by darkness on Monday.

On the restart, Shapovalov was down 5-7, 2-2 and proved dominant by winning the duel in four sets 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. In the second round, Shapovalov will battle Frenchman Grégoire Barrère, ranked 49^e at the ATP.

On the women’s side, qualifier Carol Zhao was eliminated in three sets, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 against Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch.

In the evening, Rebecca Marino was able to start her first round duel against the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu, but did not have time to complete it.

When the game was suspended, the British Columbia Canadian was leading 4-2 in the second set after dropping the first set 6-2.

Elsewhere, Bianca Andreescu will have to wait until Thursday to play her first-round match against Hungary’s Anna Bondar.

For her part, Laval’s Leylah Fernandez will meet fifth seed Caroline Garcia in the second round on Thursday.