(Reuters) – Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic booked their spots in the Paris Masters second round yesterday, while Roger Federer pulled out of the tournament with next month’s ATP Finals on the horizon.
Cilic eased past Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 7-6(5) 6-4 to set up a second round meeting with three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka.
The 2014 U.S. Open champion dictated the contest with power and precision as he won 86% of his first-serve points to seal his third consecutive victory over Hurkacz in less than two years.
Big-serving Canadian Raonic capitalised on fast court conditions to outclass Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-3 6-2 in just over an hour at the AccorHotels Arena.
A back injury has limited Raonic to three matches since the Rogers Cup in August, but the 2014 Paris runner-up was back to full strength as he struck 14 aces in a masterful display. Raonic will next face newly-crowned Vienna Open champion Dominic Thiem.
World number three Federer pulled out of the tournament as he fine tunes his schedule heading into the season-ending ATP Finals.
The 38-year-old Swiss lifted a record-extending 10th Swiss Indoors championship title in his hometown of Basel on Sunday and has decided not to play back-to-back weeks at this stage of the season.
“I am extremely disappointed to have to pull out of the Paris Masters,” Federer said in a statement here