Raonic makes some noise
Canadian crushes Rufin to advance in Florida; Venus has to back out
KEY BISCAYNE, FLA.— Canadian Milos Raonic duplicated his best career showing at the Sony Open on Saturday as he crushed Frenchman Guillaume Rufin 6-2, 6-4 to reach the third round.
It was at this point a year ago at the 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., was unable to play against Andy Murray due to an ankle injury.
Raonic, seeded 14th at Crandon Park, jumped all over the 92nd-ranked Rufin, playing in only the fourth Masters 1000-level match of his career.
The powerful Canadian began with a break of the French player and raced away to a 5-1 lead in the opening set before his opponent had a chance to react, winning 10 of the first dozen points of the match.
Raonic finished off the set with his fifth ace and a service winner to take the lead after 25 minutes.
The Canadian wasted no time in plowing through to an early break in the second set and sent down an ace for match point only to double fault for the fifth time. But two points later, he walked off court the winner.
Raonic, winner of a third straight San Jose title last month, will next face American Sam Querrey.
Meanwhile, three-time champion Venus Williams withdrew with a lower back injury shortly before her third-round match against fellow American Sloane Stephens on Saturday.
Williams, seeded19th, was extended to three sets in the second round on Thursday against Kimiko DateKrumm. She said her back began to bother her on Friday, and she decided after warming up that she couldn’t play.
“It’s really disappointing,” she said. “But I have faced disappointments in my life and my career. It’s not the first; probably not the last.”
Williams said she hopes the injury won’t prevent her from playing in her next scheduled tournament at Charleston, South Carolina, from April 1.
Stephens, who is ranked a career- best 16th and upset Serena Williams at the Australian Open, could face the younger Williams sister again in the semifinals.
Venus Williams’ injury was the second in two days to sideline a former Key Biscayne champion. Two-time winner Victoria Azarenka withdrew before her opening match on Friday because of a right ankle injury.
Williams was playing at Key Biscayne for the 14th time. She won the title in 1998, 1999 and 2001.
On a sunny, humid afternoon, sec- ond-seeded Andy Murray needed only 56 minutes to beat Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-3, 6-1. The absence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal helps Murray’s chances in the tournament, which he won in 2009. Tomic, who fell to 2-15 against top-10 opponents, drew jeers from the stadium crowd during his lacklustre performance. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Viktor Troicki on hard-court for the first time by 7-6 (6), 6-3. The No. 6-seeded Frenchman evened his record at 3-3 with Troicki, the Serb who’d won their three previous matches on hardcourts. Troicki had set point at 5-4 and again in the tiebreaker, but Tsonga staved off both and broke Troicki twice in the second set. Another Frenchman, No. 8 Richard Gasquet, defeated Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus 7-5, 6-2. Querrey won in his first match as the top-ranked American man, rallying past Lukasz Kubot 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.