 |
This time, Canadian tennis ace Milos Raonic won his way into the quarterfinals.
A week after making it to the quarters of the Rogers Cup when Andy Murray withdrew due to injury, Raonic advanced to the quarters at the Western & Southern Open Thursday in Cincinnati, Ohio.
And the 21-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., did it in style, reeling off 20 aces as he knocked off fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
Raonic, ranked 19th in the world but unseeded in Cincinnati, will play Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the quarters Friday. Wawrinka, ranked 26th in the world, beat Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the quarters.
The Raonic-Wawrinka winner will face either top-ranked Roger Federer of Switzerland or American Mardy Fish in the semifinals.
Things weren't so good for Canadian Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi of Belarus. The top-ranked duo lost 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 to Andreas Seppi and Viktor Troicki in their third-round doubles match.
Third-seeded Murray was eliminated Thursday with a shocking 6-4, 6-4 loss to Jeremy Chardy of France while Federer moved on with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Bernard Tomic of Australia and second seed Novak Djokovic advanced when Nikolay Davydenko retired after losing the first set 6-0.