Third seed Milos Raonic moved closer to a second Citi Open title on Thursday, saving a pair of set points en route to prevailing in a tight 7-6(7), 6-4 battle with Marcos Baghdatis to reach the quarter-finals.

Both men held serve throughout the first set, but Baghdatis was unable to convert on  a 6/4 lead in the tie-break. The Canadian fought back to grab the early advantage on his second set point at 8/7. Raonic rode the momentum through the remainder of the match, breaking Baghdatis twice in the second set to advance in one hour and 31 minutes. He improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head over Baghdatis to 3-1. Raonic also saved two set points in the second set of his opening-round win on Wednesday against Nicolas Mahut. 

Next up for Raonic is eighth seed Jack Sock, who advanced in an all-American battle with #NextGenATP American Jared Donaldson 7-6(6), 6-2. Sock’s match was nearly identical to Raonic’s, saving a pair of set points at 4/6 in the first-set tie-break before going on to control the remainder of the match. He boosts his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Donaldson to 2-0, with the other win coming this past March at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami.

Raonic leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Sock 8-2 and won their lone meeting at the Citi Open in 2014. Sock saved two match points to take their most recent match this past October at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. They were scheduled to compete this February in the Delray Beach Open final, but Raonic withdrew before taking the court due to a hamstring tear in his right leg.

Rafael Nadal’s path to No. 1 became a lot simpler with the withdrawal of Andy Murray from the Coupe Rogers in Montreal on Thursday. Nadal needs to reach the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament to return to the top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

The 31-year-old Spaniard was last No. 1 in June 2014. He has spent a total of 141 weeks at No. 1.

Murray, who’s recovering from a hip injury, has reigned at No. 1 for 39 weeks. Last November, he became the 26^th player and first British male to reach No. 1 in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since 23 August 1973).

“Sadly I’ve had to withdraw from Montreal, it’s a tournament that I have a lot of great memories from. I’m working hard as I can to get back on the court as soon as possible,” Murray said.

The coveted World No. 1 spot could change hands again during the U.S. summer, though. Roger Federer, who will play in Montreal, remains in contention but can’t get there in Canada.

.@rogerfederer confirms he will play in Montreal: https://t.co/oDAEhygjZH #CoupeRogers pic.twitter.com/UGHVtvCSoo

— Coupe Rogers (@CoupeRogers) August 1, 2017

Fabio Fognini extended his match-win streak to six on Thursday at the Generali Open in Kitzbühel and is now two matches away from winning back-to-back titles on the ATP World Tour.

The second-seeded Italian, the lone seed remaining in clay-court tournament, made quick work of Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, breaking him seven times to advance 6-3, 6-1 in 65 minutes.

Fognini captured his fifth ATP World Tour crown last week at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad, beating German Yannick Hanfmann in the Swiss Alps mountain town.

He’ll try to make his second consecutive final when he faces Kitzbuehel resident and 2015 champion Phillipp Kohlschreiber. The German saved six of seven break points to beat 2016 semi-finalist Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) in two hours and 32 minutes.

“I’m just happy because I still think I’m playing really good. Tomorrow I have a really tough, tough match with a great opponent, so hopefully I continue like this. Of course, winning is always good but I’m happy if I lose and I play well,” Fognini said.

#NextGenATP Austrian Sebastian Ofner continued to impress the home fans by reaching his first ATP World Tour semi-final. The 21-year-old wild card prevailed past Renzo Olivo of Argentina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

Ofner, No. 157 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, ousted top seed Pablo Cuevas, a six-time clay-court titlist, in a third-set tie-break to face Olivo. The Austrian is coming off his breakthrough Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon, where he beat 17^th seed Jack Sock to reach the third round before falling to #NextGenATP Alexander Zverev.

Ofner will next face either countryman and 2016 semi-finalist Gerald Melzer or Portugal’s Joao Sousa, who knocked out defending champion Paolo Lorenzi of Italy to reach his fifth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season.

Juan Carlos Ferrero was the “perfect fit” to join the team of Alexander Zverev and his father and coach, Alexander Zverev Sr., who together made the decision to bring on Ferrero.

The Spaniard and the #NextGenATP Zverev have talked almost daily since Zverev approached him about working together at the Mutua Madrid Open in May. This week at the Citi Open in Washington, DC, is the first time they’ve worked together in person.

Zverev wanted to bring on Ferrero for a few reasons, he said on Wednesday. He remembered the Spaniard being of the hardest workers during his time on the ATP World Tour.

Ferrero’s bonafide top-level credentials – former World No. 1, four ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles and a Grand Slam crown, 2003 Roland Garros – also appealed to Zverev. To boot, Zverev enjoys being around the former champion who now runs his own academy in Spain.

“From a personal point of view, he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve met,” Zverev said after his 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) second-round win against Aussie Jordan Thompson. “He obviously can be very strong on court, telling me what to do and telling me what I’m doing wrong. But he’s such an easy guy to be around that it was such an easy decision for me to take him into the team. He doesn’t want to take my father’s place; my father doesn’t want to take his place. From that kind of view, he was the perfect fit.”

It’s not as if Zverev needed outside help; his career has been on an upward trajectory with his father as his lone coach. The German reached a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 8 on Monday. The 20 year old has won four ATP World Tour titles, including his first Masters 1000 title in Rome earlier this year.

Zverev is the only player not named Roger or Rafa to win a Masters 1000 crown or Grand Slam title this season. He’s currently in sixth place in the Emirates ATP Race To London and leads the Emirates ATP Race To Milan.

Alexander Zverev Sr., in addition to working with Sascha Zverev, also coaches his other son, the serve-and-volleying Mischa Zverev, who’s No. 25 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“I think my dad might be one of the best family coaches of all-time. He has two sons who are in the Top 25 in the world… with two completely different game styles. That’s not easy to do. You’ve got to be very smart, you’ve got to know what to practise and what to teach… Our practice sessions are completely different,” Alexander Zverev said.

“I think no other coach has done that, to bring two players from scratch, absolute zero to the Top 25 in the world. So I think he really is one of the greatest coaches of all-time.”

The 6’6” Zverev, who fell in the Washington semi-finals (Monfils) last year and the quarter-finals (l. to Cilic) in 2015, will try to secure his first ATP World Tour 500 title this week and achieve a personal milestone. He is one match win away from his 100^th victory.

Zverev will next meet American Tennys Sandgren, who was leading 6-3, 3-0 when Aussie Nick Kyrgios retired from the match.

“I really love the crowd in DC. They’re always involved in the tennis. I think they always quite enjoy coming back and supporting all of us,” Zverev said. “I’ve played here the past two years. I’ve played pretty well, and obviously it helps every single time to play in such a great atmosphere. I think they enjoy matches like that and I think we, as players, really appreciate it as well.”