ROANIC PAST FIRST TEST

Rising Canadian star Milos Raonic defeated Turkey's Marsel Ilhan 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday for his first career Masters 1000 victory.

Raonic, ranked No. 37 in the world, has been on quite a roll of late. He earned his first career ATP Tour victory before reaching another tournament final and last week led Canada to a Davis Cup victory over Mexico.

However, the 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., had some trouble closing out the win after allowing an early break in the second set to slip away. He ultimately had to end the match by winning a tiebreaker.

Raonic is competing in his first Masters event outside of Canada, where he lost at the Rogers Cup in 2009 and 2010. He moved into a second-round match against American Mardy Fish, the 13th seed who lost the 2008 final to Novak Djokovic.

The big-hitting Raonic was held to 10 aces by Ilhan, who is ranked No. 120 in the world and dropped his ninth match of the year between ATP and Challengers levels and is still looking for his first victory.

Raonic saved two of the three break points he faced while registering three breaks of his own in a match that lasted just under 90 minutes in blazing sunny conditions.

THE CANADIAN PRESS