MIAMI — Canadian top seed Milos Raonic advanced to the quarterfinals of the ATP Delray Beach Open Wednesday by defeating Croatia’s Borna Coric 6-3, 7-6 (7/2).
On a night when rain delayed the start of play for more than eight hours, world No. 4 Raonic fired 12 aces on his way to victory after 94 minutes in the early minutes of Thursday morning.
Raonic, who reached the tie-breaker with his 11th ace and reached match point with his last ace, booked a Friday quarterfinal matchup against British eighth seed Kyle Edmund, who outlasted Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Also advancing to the last eight was US third seed Jack Sock, who downed Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 6-1, and American fifth seed Steve Johnson, who eliminated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka by the same score.
Sock and Johnson will meet in another quarterfinal.
Thursday’s matchups find Argentina’s seventh-seeded Juan Martin Del Potro, in his first tournament of the year after helping his homeland win the Davis Cup, meeting Bosnia’s Damir Dzumhur.
Two other second-round matches Thursday will be all-American affairs, with teen star Taylor Fritz facing Donald Young and fourth-seeded defending champion Sam Querrey meeting Jared Donaldson.
Medvedev upsets Paire
Daniil Medvedev upset eighth-seeded Benoit Paire 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the first round of the Open 13 Wednesday, and defending champion Nick Kyrgios advanced to the quarterfinals.
The 21-year-old Medvedev rallied from a double break down in the decider after breaking his French opponent when Paire served for the match in the second set.
“I started to play some really good Tennis in the third set, especially in the tie-break,” said Medvedev, who reached his first final on the Tour at the Chennai Open earlier this year.
Paire’s fellow Frenchmen Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon enjoyed better fortune at the indoor hard-court tournament while Kyrgios eased past Malek Jaziri 6-4, 6-2.
The sixth-seeded Gasquet prevailed 7-5, 6-2 against Mikhail Youzhny and Simon joined him in the quarterfinals after beating Julien Benneteau 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in an all-French match.— Agencies
