Milos Raonic beat home favourite Cameron Norrie 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 7-6 (11-9) at the Queen's Club in London on Monday to advance to the second round of the grass-court competition.
Norrie claimed the first set in a tense tiebreak, with both players using their serves to excellent effect -- a theme that would continue throughout the match.
The sole break of the entire match came for Raonic in the second set as he forced a decider, where brutishly powerful serves meant the match was to be decided by another tiebreak.
Norrie, 28, earned a mini-break early in the tiebreak which he immediately surrendered to Raonic, a finalist at Wimbledon in 2016. The Canadian failed to convert his first two match points but succeeded on the third attempt to claim the set and match.
Raonic served 47 aces throughout the match, showing some of the form that has seen him succeed during the grass-court season in previous years, while Norrie managed 12 of his own.
"It's an incredibly difficult match," Raonic said shortly after securing the win. "Got lucky to get through, obviously the serve helped me a lot today."
The 33-year-old has dealt with a number of injury issues in recent years, having not played at Queen's in the previous five seasons, and said he enjoyed the close nature of the win over Norrie.
"For me to be able to enjoy these tight moments, even though they're not always fun going through them in the moment, it's the thing that's the most exciting about competing and being back on court."
On Sunday, it was announced that Norrie had been selected for Team GB's tennis roster at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Norrie is set to play in the doubles at Queen's with fellow Brit Jack Draper on Tuesday.
