Raonic into fourth round of French Open
Canadian Milos Raonic caught a break Friday at the French Open 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-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
“I watched a bit of his match today, he’s playing well,” Raonic said. “He’s improved a lot over the last 16 months or so. I Canada’s Milos Raonic plays a shot against Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez during their third round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, in Paris, France on Friday.
played him a few times toward the end of last year. He’s very solid, he’s disciplined, he shows
up and he’s there and he doesn’t exit the match, you really have to beat him.