Raonic advances to quarterfinals at Japan Open
Milos Raonic of Canada returns a shot against Jeremy Chardy of France during their second round match at the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. Raonic won 6-4, 6-3. AP/Shizuo Kambayashi
TOKYO — Third-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada overpowered Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Japan Open.
Raonic, coming off a win at the Thailand Open on Sunday, hit 17 aces in the match.
After coasting through the first set, Raonic took control in the sixth game of the second set when he broke Chardy with a smash at the net to go up 4-2.
The 22-year-old Canadian, ranked 11th in the world, then held serve with three straight aces to take a 5-2 lead. Chardy fought back to make it 5-3 before Raonic closed out the match with another three aces in the final game.
Raonic will next face Slovakian Lukas Lacko, who beat qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 7-5, 6-4.
In other matches, sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Horacio Zeballos of Argentina.
Defending champion and local favorite Kei Nishikori, who beat Raonic in last year’s final, will face Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in a second-round match later Thursday.
Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro will play Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the quarterfinals on Friday.
