After 2 1/2 weeks off to heal a foot injury, Milos Raonic returns in Madrid and makes quick work of Juan Mónaco

The layoff was unexpected for Milo Raonic, after his European clay-court campaign was put on hold to heal a foot injury in his first dirt event in Monte Carlo.

So when the 24-year-old returned Tuesday in Madrid, after 2 1/2 weeks off, to face tough clay-court customer Juan Mónaco of Argentina, it wasn't exactly the optimal way to ease back into it.

But Raonic played beautifully in a routine 6-3, 6-4 victory over Mónaco, and moves onto the third round at the Mutua Madrid Open, a top-level Masters 1000 event.

The 24-year-old Canadian, ranked No. 6 but seeded No. 5 with the absence of Novak Djokovic in Madrid, had just one previous completed match against Mónaco, and it was a doozy. The two met at the 2012 French Open, and it ended up being a 4 1/2-hour epic in the high heat. Raonic, who had led two sets to one, succumbed in five.

Spaniard Galo Blanco was his coach back then. Hair prep time back then, according to Blanco, was ... zero. Another era.

Nearly three years later, Mónaco isn't playing nearly as well as he was then. And clearly Raonic, despite the layoff, is at a different level on the clay.

The Canadian was ranked No. 22 back then; Mónaco, whose career-best No. 10 would come two months later, was No. 15.

One break in each set was enough on Tuesday. When Raonic broke at 3-3 in the second, Mónaco angrily fired his racquet in disgust; he knew, as well as Raonic was playing and serving, that it just about over. Raonic won 80 per cent of the points on his serve – first and second deliveries combined. He won more than half the points on his opponent's second serve – typically a good indicator of how well he's hitting the ball.

Was Raonic still doing the tappety-tap on changeovers? Indeed, he was.

Raonic did grimace a bit after it was over, as he sat down in his chair. So he might not be feeling 100 per cent back yet. But he will have a day off on Wednesday as he awaits the winner of a second-round match between No. 11 Feliciano Lopez of Spain and another Argentine, Leonardo Mayer.

There was a fist pump after that ultimate break, but very few smiles as he saluted the crowd after the win.

Raonic has had some tough encounters against Lopez; he leads their head-to-head 3-2). Their only meeting on clay came in 2011 at this very event, won by Lopez 6-4 in the third set; Raonic has never faced Mayer.