Elevate your local knowledge

Select Region

Selecting your primary region ensures you get the stories that matter to you first.

CINCINNATI – Canadian Milos Raonic put on another serving display at the Western & Southern Open on Thursday, beating Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 event.

The Thornhill, Ont., native hit 20 aces in just under two hours against the 2010 Wimbledon finalist, notching 33 winners and breaking Berdych three times.

Raonic, ranked 19th, now plays Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-3.

Raonic won Thursday’s opening set on a break in the ninth game but couldn’t maintain momentum as Berdych stormed back in the second.

The Canadian woke up in the third, breaking Berdych twice to claim his 33rd of the season against 13 defeats.

Canadian doubles top seed Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi of Belarus lost their opening match to the pickup team of Italy’s Andrea Seppi and Serb Viktor Troicki 4-6, 6-4, 10-8 (match tiebreak).

The 39-year-old Nestor has won this event four times, the first coming with former partner Mark Knowles in 1995.

News from © The Canadian Press, . All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.