"I think I can still serve much better," Raonic told reporters after needing only 73 minutes to advance. “The way I was aggressive from the baseline, I hit my forehand well. It's something we spent these last two weeks working on."
The unseeded Raonic, who is coming off a run to the quarter-final at Wimbledon, will next face the winner of Tuesday’s match between American Frances Tiafoe and Italian Marco Cecchinato.
Thirteenth seed American Jack Sock suffered a defeat to Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Medvedev will play the winner of Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and France's Lucas Pouille in the second round.
Eleventh-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina and 12th-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta were also first-round winners.
Spain's Rafa Nadal is the top-seeded player in the tournament, while Germany's Alexander Zverev, who won the Citi Open championship on Sunday in Washington, is the second seed.
(By Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
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