Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ontario is into the fourth round of the 2018 U.S. Open. On Friday from Flushing Meadows, New York, Raonic beat three-time major champion Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in straight sets 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the third round of the year’s final major.
A key moment in the match came in the first set tiebreak. Wawrinka jumped into the 3-0 lead and had two set points before Raonic came back to win 8-6. Raonic then had two key breaks in the second and third set before breaking Wawrinka a final time in the last game of the match.
There is no doubt that Raonic’s serve is working at the moment. He had 14 aces, compared to Wawrinka’s six and won 87% of his points on his first serve. Raonic also had 16 more winners than unforced errors (43 compared to 27).
Raonic, the 25th seed, will next face John Isner of the United States, the 11th seed, in the fourth round on Sunday. Isner beat Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 in the third round on Friday. Head to head, Isner is 4-1 against Raonic, with Raonic’s only win coming in 2016 in Cincinnati.
Meanwhile, Denis Shapovalov of Toronto, Ontario, lost his third round match to the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open finalist Kevin Anderson of South Africa. However Shapovalov did take Anderson the distance in five sets before losing 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
