WHAT HAPPENED: After missing last year's US Open due to injury, Milos Raonic made a winning return to New York on Monday.
Though he dropped a set, the No. 25 seed defeated Argentina's Carlos Berlocq, 7-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 to open play on Court 5 and advance to the second round.
The Canadian's injury troubles saw him fall out of the world's Top 20 last year, but in his last appearance at a Grand Slam, he reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. In addition, he pushed eventual champion Novak Djokovic to the brink in the quartefinals of the US Open Series event in Cincinnati.
"I'm feeling good. I played well the last few weeks, the last few months. Things have been on the up. I have been able to stay relatively healthy, as well," Raonic said after the match.
"I'm eager to do well here and hopefully I can produce a good level of tennis and that can result in some good results."
Raonic edged out Berlocq in the first two sets, coming from a break down to triumph in a tiebreak in the opener before taking the lone break of serve for either player in the fifth game of the second set.
Berlocq, an Argentinian with a career-high ranking of world No.37, needed to come through qualifying to reach the main draw with his current ranking of world No.172.
The 35-year-old veteran nonetheless showed the kind of tennis he's capable of in the third set, as he broke the big-serving Canadian twice in the second set, but was unable to extend the match further.
"I I had my moments. A little bit too much up and down, and lacked a bit of discipline on my service games. Otherwise I, you know, got the job done and have to be happy with that. And when there was sort of pressure on me, I stepped up and I was able to play better in those scenarios.
WHAT IT MEANS: Raonic was upset in the second round in his last trip to Flushing Meadows, falling to American Ryan Harrison at that stage as the No. 5 seed.
He will look to avoid that fate against another former Top 10 player in France's Gilles Simon, who scored a straight sets victory over South African qualifier Lloyd Harris earlier on Monday.
The two former Top 10 players will face off for the sixth time overall in the next round, and third time at a Grand Slam. Raonic has won four of the five meetings, and both matches at Slams.
He scored a five-set victory over the Frenchman at Roland Garros in 2014, and needed four sets to win at the Australian Open last year.
"I have to be more disciplined. He's going to let me get into points and that kind of thing, but I just got to be more disciplined from the start throughout, especially on the serve," Raonic said.
"I will get chances from him, and [I'm looking to] sort of be very much on top of the match all the way through."
MATCH POINT: The US Open has been the least successful Slam for the former Wimbledon finalist, as it is the only one of the four where he has not reached the quarterfinals.
Should the Canadian want to do that this year, he'll have to go through a section of the draw that features No.8 seed Grigor Dimitrov, No.11 seed John Isner and former US Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
