Raonic suffers shock defeat to Youzhny in St Petersburg

ST PETERSBURG: Milos Raonic was surprisingly ousted by local hope Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 in the second round of the St Petersburg Open.

Youzhny toughed out a 10-minute final game to cap the match in 2½ hours and his first win over a top-10 player in more than two years.

Raonic, the world No. 6 who came to St Petersburg as the reigning champion and had a first-round bye, has lost three of his last four matches on Tour.

Youzhny improved his record in St Petersburg to a tournament-best 33-12, including the 2004 title and two other finals. He said he felt he was playing his best tennis in three years, when he last won a title, and was fired up by the Russian crowd.

“It’s only possible in St Petersburg,” he said.

In his third quarter-final of the year, he will play fifth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany, who beat Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-5.

Third-seeded Tomas Berdych dug deep to reach the quarter-finals as he defeated leading Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4).

Italian Paolo Lorenzi also easily saw off French qualifier Alexandre Sidorenko 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Earlier, seventh-seeded Viktor Troicki beat fellow Serb Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final with US Open champion Stan Wawrinka. — AP