Raonic glides into next round at French Open

PARIS Canadian Milos Raonic caught a break Friday at the French Open in Paris as he needed less than a half-hour to complete a third-round victory over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Raonic, the No. 5 seed from Thornhill, Ont., advanced when Garcia-Lopez retired from the match due to a left thigh injury. The Canadian, who was leading 6-1, 1-0 at the time, said he can use the extra rest.

“I’ll take it when I can have it,” Raonic said. “I’ve played a lot over the last weeks. I’m playing well. I’m happy with the way I was able to start today. I think I’ve made good progress and I’m getting better and better each match. Now I’m just looking forward to playing in two days.”

Garcia-Lopez needed treatment at the end of the first set. Raonic had a 12-2 edge in winners and recorded five aces over the 28-minute contest.

Next up for the Canadian is a fourth-round match against 20th seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal’s journey to the fourth round could hardly have been easier. His 100th best-of-five-set match on clay was also the most lopsided. He won 82 points and conceded merely 36 in a 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 victory over 63rdranked Nikoloz Basilashvili. “The score is quite embarrassing, you know,” Basilashvili acknowledged, “but I have to accept it.”

Novak Djokovic had a much tougher go of it against 41st-ranked Diego Schwartzman before riding a late surge to a 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 win.

In women’s play, defending champion Garbine Muguruza beat No. 27 Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-2, and a couple of unseeded Americans lost to seeded opponents: No. 13 Kristina Mladenovic edged Shelby Rogers 7-5, 4-6, 8-6, while No. 23 Sam Stosur eliminated qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-2, 6-2.