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Thursday, November 3, 2016

{allcanada} Milos Raonic advances to quarters at Paris Masters

 

PARIS — Fourth-seed Milos Raonic advanced to the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters after rallying past Pablo Cuevas 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Thursday.

Cuevas was strong in the first set, converting his lone break point opportunity and landing 83 per cent of his first serves.

But as the Uruguayan's accuracy fell back down to Earth in the following sets — he was good on just 44 per cent of first serves in the second set and 50 per cent in the third — Raonic was able to use his booming serve to take control of the match.

The Canadian fired 16 aces, compared to just two for Cuevas, and broke his opponent four times over the final two sets.

Raonic will face either Kei Nishikori or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the next round.

In other matches, Marin Cilic ended a three-match losing streak against David Goffin to earn a spot at the ATP Finals.

The former U.S. Open champion converted his sixth match point to beat Goffin 6-3, 7-6 (9) at the indoor tournament, giving him a spot in the quarter-finals and one of the remaining two berths at the season-ending tournament in London later this month.

"I was expecting it," Cilic said. "It was the goal of the season for me, to reach the Tour Finals in London. Obviously, the top eight is something that all the players in the world are wishing for."

Cilic is enjoying a strong finish to the season after being hampered by a knee injury in the spring. He won his second title of the year last week in Basel and is expected to lead Croatia in the Davis Cup final against Argentina later this month after playing at the O2 Arena.

"I'm really glad to see that I've found this consistency in my tennis and keeping in that for quite a long period of time, especially at big tournaments," he said.

Goffin had won their three previous encounters, all of them this year, but Cilic was better Thursday on crucial points, often using his big serve to lift himself out of trouble.

The ninth-seeded Croat also made up for his many unforced errors with aggressive shot-making in the tiebreak. He raised his arms in triumph and screamed after Goffin framed a forehand to end it.

Goffin crumbled when he served for the second set at 5-3 but was broken at love.

"In some moments of the match, I could have done a bit better," said Goffin, who needed to win in Paris to qualify for the ATP Finals. "But he played well and he didn't give me many opportunities. I personally gave away many points to him."

Dominic Thiem will complete the field in London if Tomas Berdych fails to reach the semifinals in Paris and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga does not win the title.

Cilic will next face either top-ranked Novak Djokovic or Grigor Dimitrov.

Also, big-hitter Jack Sock continued his run by reaching the quarter-finals for the first time with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win over France's Richard Gasquet.

Facing a partisan crowd, Sock took an all-risk approach that paid dividends. Sock, who was the runner-up in Stockholm two weeks ago, lost only two points on serve in the first set. He hit nine aces and an impressive total of 43 winners.

Gasquet saved two match points at 4-5 in the decider, including a beautiful half-volley that drew a smile from Sock, but the American continued to play aggressively, earning another break to seal the match.

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