Raonic rolls past Daniel to reach 3rd round of National Bank Open

Canada's Milos Raonic used his strong serve to power his way to a 6-4, 6-3 second-round win over Japan's Taro Daniel at the National Bank Open on Wednesday.

The Thornhill, Ont., native had 15 aces to just two double faults and broke on two of his seven opportunities.

Daniel, 30, had three aces to two double faults and went without a break point opportunity throughout the one hour 30-minute match.

Raonic entered Wednesday's match having defeated ninth-seeded American Frances Tiafoe on Monday in his first appearance at the NBO since 2019 and first in Toronto since 2018.

WATCH | Raonic tops Daniel:

The 32-year-old Raonic was granted one of four wild-card berths into the tournament.

Raonic had just four matches entering the NBO after making his return to the ATP Tour in June. The former world No. 3 had been out since July 2021 with an Achilles tendon issue and toe injuries.

The opening set was a back-and-forth affair, with Raonic finding most of his success on serve.

Daniel capitalized with some cross-court winners and some of Raonic's mistakes to continuously even the score while on serve.

It wasn't until the 10th game where either player won a game on return. With a 5-4 lead in hand and in deuce, Raonic won the set thanks to consecutive errors from Daniel.

Raonic had eight aces in the opening set, the last of them coming in the ninth game.

Raonic extended his lead to 4-1, continuing to challenge Daniel with his serve. Raonic forced a wide return on his serve to make it 40-0 before sealing the game with his 10th ace.

Following chants of "Let's Go Milos!" from the home crowd after Daniel won the next game, Raonic fired off three consecutive aces before forcing a long return from Daniel on yet another strong serve to win