Raonic Dismisses Coric in Delray Beach

Milos Raonic overcame #NextGenATP threat Borna Coric and a rain-delayed start to reach the Delray Beach Open quarter-finals on Wednesday night. The top-seeded Canadian held off the Croatian 6-3, 7-6(2) to book a showdown with eighth seed Kyle Edmund.

Raonic was typically efficient on serve. He sent down 12 aces and won 89 per cent of his first-serve points in the one-hour, 34-minute match. His only wobble came when leading a set and a break up at 1-0 in the second, where he was broken back to love.

“He tried to be a bit more aggressive, I got that early break and I had a lop-sided game with a couple of doubles [faults], couple of mistakes, that I’d be disappointed with normally,” Raonic said. “If I can get myself ahead a break it’s where my strength lies so I’m happy I managed to keep it together since then and managed to pull it out in two.

“It worked out well. I have 36 hours now to recover and that’s what the focus is going to be on. I’ll practise, I need practice.”

It capped a clean sweep for the seeds on Wednesday. Eighth seed Edmund rallied to beat Yen-Hsun Lu 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, sending down nine aces and breaking three times in the process.

American seeds Jack Sock and Steve Johnson also advanced to the quarter-finals. Third-seeded Sock had a comfortable 6-4, 6-1 result against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. He saved all seven break points faced and converted on all four break points.

Fifth-seeded Johnson posted an identical scoreline to defeat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in one hour and nine minutes. Sock and Johnson will square off for a semi-final berth.