Handed one of the tougher first-round assignments at this year’s Australian Open, Canada’s Milos Raonic completed it in the best way possible.
Serving with aplomb and maintaining steely focus, the 16th seed saw off Nick Kyrgios in straight sets 6-4 7-6(5) 6-4 at an atmospheric Melbourne Arena on Tuesday night to reach the second round.
His road gets no easier; next up is three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka.
Yet if Tuesday night’s performance was an indicator, Raonic could be in control of that one, too.
"It comes down to a few points here and there. I'm very glad I served well – that was incredibly important,” he said. “I got a little fortunate on a few opportunities I had and that discipline paid off the whole match.”
At one stage in the second set, Raonic won 26 straight points on serve, closing out his sixth straight love hold with four consecutive aces to push ahead 6-5.
He was in a service groove, one that kept heaping pressure immediately back on Kyrgios.
"(I've) never seen serving like that in my life. I've never been a part of it. I was just watching it literally going side to side," the Aussie said.
"He was in such a good rhythm on serve, I couldn't do anything. He was way too good tonight. Every time I returned, he served and volleyed. He volleyed unbelievable. He was so composed on big points, he made returns, jag returns on big points on my serve. He was way too good for me tonight."
Kyrgios was already struggling with a right knee injury at the other end of the court. It flared up midway through the first set and unsettled the former world No.13, who lamented the fact he had warmed up extensively yet could feel pain every time he rocked back as part of his service motion.
Strapping and some painkillers proved ineffectual; he got more strapping applied at the end of the second set following a tense tiebreak, in which he had chances only to have them snuffed out by the relentless Raonic.
"It's tough (to play an injured opponent),” Raonic admitted. “It's tough against Nick anyway because he takes the match through so many motions, it's very important that you stay on top of your serve."
When Kyrgios clawed his way back from 3-1 to 3-3 in the tiebreak, the crowd rose in intensity, willing on the home-grown player.
Yet ever calm and purposeful, Raonic dipped a return low at the net-rushing Kyrgios’ feet; Kyrgios botched the half-volley and the Canadian earned two set points at 4-6, converting his second.
He broke serve in the fifth game of the third with a near-identical shot dipped low at the feet of Kyrgios, who again failed to control his reply.
All Raonic had to do from there was hold serve for the remainder of the set, and a place in the second round was his.
He met that KPI comfortably. In fact, he did not face one break point for the entire match.
This was Raonic at his deadliest, most efficient best, reminiscent of the player who three years ago at this very tournament got to within a set of the final before injury intervened – and who later in 2016 peaked at world No.3.
The way to get back there is with the serving prowess and ceaseless aggression he displayed in his first Australian Open outing of 2019.
"I wanna come forward. I've done it at spurts throughout my career but I feel like it's what I need to do,” said Raonic, who advanced to net 34 times for a success rate of 74 per cent.
“(I need to do that) to give myself the best chance possible, to be able to play throughout the whole year and to be able to play at the top level.”