OMNISPORT

Milos Raonic was denied a maiden clay-court title on his return from injury as he lost in straight sets to Marin Cilic in the final of the Istanbul Open.

World number eight Cilic secured the first set in a tie-break before kicking on to beat his fellow top-10 player 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 on Sunday.

Despite falling short in his first ATP World Tour final on clay, Raonic can nevertheless take confidence from an encouraging week following his recovery from a hamstring problem.

Prior to Sunday's final, the Canadian had not dropped serve in Istanbul and that record was maintained in the first set.

After staving off a break point in the third game, Raonic missed three opportunities to forge 3-1 ahead in the next game, but there were to be no further chances against serve as a breaker was required.

Cilic came through it with comfort before applying pressure to the Raonic serve at the start of set two, which was rewarded with a break in the fourth game.

The 2014 US Open champion found himself 0-40 down in the next game, yet recovered to hold and was not troubled thereafter.