Raonic upset by De Minaur in 2nd round at Brisbane
Milos Raonic of Canada plays a shot in his match against Alex De Minaur of Australia during the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)
BRISBANE, Australia — Former champion Milos Raonic lost in straight sets to 18-year-old Alex De Minaur in a second-round upset Wednesday at the Brisbane International.
Raonic, who won the Brisbane title in 2016 and reached the Wimbledon final that year, struggled to find rhythm with his usually booming serve in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to the Australian wildcard entry.
De Minaur pressured Raonic with his relentless service returns and only dropped serve once — when serving for the match at 5-2 in the second — en route to the biggest win of his career.
The win put De Minaur into a quarterfinal match against American qualifier Michael Mmoh, who upset No. 8-seeded Mischa Zverev 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
Nick Kyrgios was the first into the men’s quarterfinals, overcoming a knee problem to outlast fellow Australian Matthew Ebden 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Third-seeded Kyrgios called for a medical timeout after nine games and had further treatment two games later to have his left knee taped.
His movement appeared to be hampered but he still had too much for Ebden and set up a quarterfinal match against former Brisbane International runner-up Alexandr Dolgopolov, who beat Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 6-2.
Elina Svitolina advanced to the women’s quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-1 second-round win over Croatia’s Ana Konjuh.
The third-seeded Svitolina, who won five WTA titles last year and peaked at No. 3, will next play fifth-seeded Johanna Konta.
Kaia Kanepi beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-4, 6-3 and qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich rallied for a 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over Anett Kontaveit to set up a quarterfinal match against Alize Cornet.
