Music: {allcanada} Raonic rolls on

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

{allcanada} Raonic rolls on

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Canadian qualifier Milos Raonic upset seventh seed Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-7 (10), 7-6 (9), 6-3 on Wednesday, continuing his winning ways at the Malaysian Open.

The 19-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., came into the tournament without a win on the ATP Tour. Now he has two and has reached the quarter-finals.

Raonic, ranked No. 237 in the world, took just under two and a half hours to dispose of the world No. 31 who has won two titles this season.

Raonic (pronounced ray-o-nich) played down his biggest career accomplishment, saying he also had some luck on court.

"It was good, I had chances in the first set with two set points. But even through I didn't convert them, I kept my composure, that's something I sometimes don't do.

"I just took care of my service games and that was enough today."

Raonic fired 15 aces -- he had 23 in the first round against Russian Igor Kunitsyn -- and broke Stakhovsky twice on the way to victory.

"I felt confident going into the second even if he had more set points, which I saved," he said. "It was good going into the third set and it all paid off for me.

"This win is a good thing for me and my ranking. My goal this week was to just be a contender."

The six-foot-five Canadian will meet Igor Andreev in the quarter-finals Friday. Andreev upset fellow Russian and defending champion Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-3 in two hours 47 minutes.

It was Andreev's first victory over Davydenko in seven years.

Davydenko, who had a first-round bye, looked to be on course for a relatively straightforward victory when he led 5-1 in the first-set tiebreak, but Andreev found his range with his forehand and rattled off six points in a row to steal it.

Davydenko raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set, and although Andreev fought back to level it 5-5, Davydenko took the next two games to make it one set apiece.

Andreev's more aggressive approach in the deciding set paid dividends as Davydenko began to wilt in the heat.

"I played better than expected and even I'm surprised I won today," the No. 102-ranked Andreev said. "My forehand really paid off today and I think that was the difference between us.

"I got a lot of confidence from my fightback in the first-set tiebreak and the second set so I was more confident going into the decider. I'm really looking forward to playing in the quarter-finals on Friday."

A disappointed Davydenko refused to blame his late arrival to Kuala Lumpur for his defeat but instead said the Wilson balls were not to his liking.

"I'm used to Dunlop balls and found the ones in the tournament not as good," Davydenko said. "But credit to Igor as he was on top of his game and he played better then me. I will have to pick myself up."

Meanwhile, fourth seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia worked hard for his 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 victory over Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Youzhny, who also received a bye in the first round, won an easy first set 6-1, but Dolgopolov upped his game in the second. Both players then held serve in a finely balanced final set until the Russian finally broke his opponent in the 11th game to set up his victory.

"The first set was easy as he (Dolgopolov) made a lot of mistakes. Then in the second set, he played well and I made mistakes. But I'm happy with the way I played overall and hope to play better in the next game," Youzhny said.