Calf injury floors Raonic in Tokyo, Goffin advance

INJURY-PRONE third seed Milos Raonic lasted one game before quitting with a calf injury to hand local hero Yuichi Sugita a 1-0 trip into the quarterfinals of the Japan Open yesterday.

Raonic, who complained after his first-round win this week that the ATP schedule, stretching to 11 months for some, left no room for injury recovery, has a history of physical problems.

His latest worry was a wrist injury which required minor surgery late August and kept him out of the US Open during a seven-week absence.

“I picked up a strain to the calf. It’s hard to know the extent of it, I’ll have to wait because it’s too soon to have an exact evaluation,” Raonic said.

“It happened when the score was deuce, I felt a sharp pain at the back of my leg. I will head home now and get medical attention.”

Sugita, ranked 40th, has exploded into form in recent months, playing a Cincinnati quarterfinal and reaching the semis last week in Changdu, China.

David Goffin had to survive a fierce struggle with an inspired qualifier with the fourth seed managing a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) defeat of Matt Ebden.

Belgian Goffin, battling to secure a place in the eight-man season finals next month in London, worked for almost two and a half hours to get past his determined Aussie opponent.

Frenchman Richard Gasquet continued to make late-season progress and will play his first ATP-level quarterfinal since Eastbourne in June after defeating Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun 6-0, 7-6 (7-5).

American Steve Johnson, who knocked second seed Dominic Thiem out in the first round, moved through over Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine 6-2, 6-4. – dpa