Milos Raonic, in his first Grand Slam match since the Wimbledon final, met Dustin Brown for the first time in their respective careers. Their introductory match was played in front of a rowdy New York City crowd that was hungry for some US Open action. After an hour and 44 minutes, Raonic emerged victorious to a score of 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. The big-serving Canadian proved to be flat out too much for the flashy German to handle in this contest.

Raonic starts strong

Living up to his reputation as one of the game's premier servers, Raonic wasted little time holding at love in the opening game; the game featured an athletic running overhead, a perfectly-placed backhand, and, unsurprisingly, an ace. Brown responded--forcing his opponent to be mobile with a mix of slices and dices on the ball. Through three games, the match was dominated by the server with the returning player getting a total of just two points. The fourth game saw the returner tripling that total as Raonic broke his German opponent's serve in four quick points. 

Down 1-3, Brown put away a volley to see his first break point; the world number 86 wasted no time getting the break with a perfect reaching backhand lob that ended an exciting rally. A hold at 15 brought the set to an even 3-3, and it was evident early that fans were in for a real treat.

Milos Raonic plays a backhand in his match against Dustin Brown in the first round of the 2016 US Open. Photo: Don Emmert/Getty Images

The next five games would proceed without as much as a deuce--let alone a break. However, at 6-5, Raonic blasted past Brown to triple set point at 0-40. While the German was able to extend the set by one point, a backhand half-volley wide out ended the first set in 37 minutes.

Brown can't respond

Set number two also opened with Raonic thundering his way to a 1-0 lead--whipping two aces along the way. Despite going down 0-30 in the second game, Brown bounced back with four straight points and an ace to finish his first hold of the set. 

The fourth game finally uncovered some break points as the world number six led 15-40; the world number 86 was able to save the first two to get to deuce, but a forehand driven long and a double fault gifted the break to the Canadian. Paralleling the first set, Brown--immediately after getting broken--responded by getting two break points of his own at 15-40. However, unlike the first set, the German couldn't get the job done; Raonic won the next three points and eventually held after two deuces. That grew his lead to three games, 4-1. 

The set would end after 33 minutes with two holds each from the two competitors, and, of course, the last point was a big ace out wide from Raonic.

Raonic advances

Brown finally got to open a set serving, and it was far from a perfect start. Nonetheless, he got the job done after four deuces and one break point saved. His Canadian opponent then wasted no time holding at love to level the score at one-all. 

Continuing to struggle with consistency, Brown gave up another break point in the third game; this one came due to a botched volley at 30-30. With a bit of help from his opponent, the German saved it after Raonic hit a forehand pass long. A backhand out long from the 31-year-old brought it right back, and a double fault once again gifted a break to the fifth seed. With a hold at 15, Raonic took a 3-1 lead for the third time of the night.

The rest of the set would proceed without much drama; Brown would hit the occasional shot to send jaws to the floor, but he did little to disrupt Raonic's rock-solid serve. With neither player breaking serve for the rest of the match, the Canadian took the final set, 6-4. 

A look at the statistics can explain quite simply how this match was won: the 25-year-old dominated on serve. Paced by 15 aces--compared to Brown's two--Raonic was able to get easy points at will. Moreover, the variation of his serves--which can be compared to a pitcher's pitches in baseball--completely threw his German opponent for a loop. Winning 88 percent of first serves alone is pretty impressive, but coupled with a 61 percent success rate on second serves made him near-impossible to break.

With a victory in the first round of the US Open, Raonic will move on to play American Ryan Harrison--whom he split their last two meetings--in the second round.

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About the author
Jeffrey Waitkevich
I write about basketball and tennis. I am a strong believer in Magic but only in Orlando.