Isner wins battle of the servers; Raonic loses

LONDON — Milos Raonic’s serve was good, but John Isner’s was better.

As a result, the Canadian’s run at Wimbledon ended in the quarter-finals for the second year in a row.

In a battle of two of the top servers in tennis, No. 13 seed Raonic lost, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-3, against No. 9 seed Isner of the U.S. on Wednesday.

Isner is the only player at Wimbledon this year not to have had his serve broken — and Raonic, six-foot-five, had just one breakpoint opportunity against the six-foot-10 American.

Isner responded with an ace on that occasion and then went on to take the fourth set.

Isner, meanwhile, converted on three of six breakpoint chances. The first breakpoint opportunity of the match came in the third set, and Isner made the most of it to go up 3-2.

Isner fought off a set point in the second set, which marked the eighth straight set to go to a tiebreaker between the two players.

Raonic, of Thornhill, fell two wins short of matching his best showing at Wimbledon — a runner-up finish in 2016.

Isner will face No. 8 seed Kevin Anderson, six foot-eight, of South Africa in the semifinals.

Anderson upset top seed

Roger Federer of Switzerland on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski is heading to the semifinals in women’s doubles.

The Ottawa native and partner Yifan Xu of China, the tournament’s sixth seeds, defeated the unseeded pair of Bethaine Mattek-Sands of the U.S., and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.