Raonic Rolls In Delray Beach Opener

Milos Raonic extended his unbeaten ATP Head2Head record against Denis Istomin on Tuesday, defeating the 33-year-old 6-2, 6-2 at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com.

The second seed dropped just one point behind his first serve (21/22) and broke serve on four occasions to advance in 65 minutes. Australian Open quarter-finalist Raonic has won each of his five encounters against Istomin in straight sets.

With his fifth win of the 2020 ATP Tour season, Raonic improves to 6-1 at this event. In 2017, the Canadian beat Kyle Edmund and Juan Martin del Potro in back-to-back matches to advance to the championship match on his tournament debut.

Raonic will face Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in the second round. Stebe saved five of six break points to defeat lucky loser Bernard Tomic 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 in one hour and 39 minutes.

Cameron Norrie withstood 13 aces to beat third seed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4. The British qualifier, making his second appearance at the ATP 250 event, will meet American wildcard Brandon Nakashima for a quarter-final spot. Nakashima claimed his maiden ATP Tour victory on Monday, beating recent Pune champion Jiri Vesely 7-6(4), 6-1.

Auckland champion Ugo Humbert also advanced to the second round, rallying from a set down to beat lucky loser Stefan Kozlov 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-1. Humbert served 12 aces and converted seven of 11 break points throughout the two-hour, 26-minute encounter.