Epic Battle ahead: Raonic To Face Kyrgios In Rome Second Round

Tenth seed Milos Raonic saved nine of 11 break point opportunities to beat Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 9 minutes for a place in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia second round. Raonic also beat the Italian wild card at last month's Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.


"I thought he played better today [than in Monte-Carlo]," said Raonic. "The conditions were a little bit difficult. I should have been a little bit more disciplined with myself in certain scenarios, but I'm happy to win and give myself an opportunity to play better in my next round."

Raonic goes onto face Nick Kyrgios, who recorded his first win at the Foro Italico, with 10 aces in a 6-1, 6-2 victory over wild card Salvatore Caruso in 61 minutes.

"I'm confident going forward, but at the same time Raonic's got one of the best serves in the world," said Kyrgios. "If he's having a lights-out day when he does everything, you can't really do too much. I'm going to go out there and do what I have been doing and just compete. If I happen to win, I win."

Looking ahead to the Kyrgios clash, Raonic said, "He has a lot of firepower. He can do a lot of different things. It's about sort of getting ahead in the points before he does, because that's where I'd say both of our games excel at is that aggressive tennis. It's about who can take control of the points first."