Tennis notes: Milos Raonic resurgence in Russia; Stan Wawrinka stalls with injury at Metz

Milos Raonic continues his fight to earn a Tour Finals place, reaching on Friday the semi-finals in Saint Petersburg while a bum ankle has forced Stan Wawrinka to withdraw in Metz.

Milos Raonic is currently ranked ninth in the ATP world rankings. Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images

ATP Saint Petersburg

Canadian second seed Milos Raonic cruised comfortably into the semi-finals of the $1 million (Dh3.67m) ATP Saint Petersburg Open on Friday with a straight-sets win over fifth seed Tommy Robredo of Spain.

The 24-year-old, targetting one of the remaining spots in the ATP World Tour Finals in London in November, fired 11 aces to win through 6-1, 6-2.

Raonic, ranked ninth in the world, dominated from the outset as he broke his Spanish rival’s serve twice in the opening set for a 1-0 lead after 24 minutes.

In the second set, Raonic broke twice to notch up his fifth win over Robredo in as many meetings.

“It’s very important to keep myself motivated. If I manage to do that I can go all the way here,” said Raonic, who next meets Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut – 6-2, 6-3 winner over France’s Lucas Pouille.

Seventh seed Joao Sousa of Portugal battled past Italy’s Simone Bolelli 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/1) and next meets Austria’s third seed Dominic Thiem, who dispatched Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, 6-2, 7-5.

“It was really hard to beat Simone, who upset top seed Tomas Berdych on his way to the quarter-finals,” said Sousa ahead of his fourth semi-final of the season.

“It’s my second time here. Last year I played in the semis. This year I’ll try to make a step forward to reach the final.”

ATP Metz

French Open champion and world No 4 Stan Wawrinka was forced to withdraw from the Metz ATP event Friday with an ankle injury, handing Philipp Kohlschreiber a semi-final spot.

Top seed Wawrinka had twisted his right ankle at the end of the first set of his second-round contest with Dustin Brown on Thursday.

“Unfortunately, I have to pull out because yesterday I twisted my ankle at 5-4 in the first set,” said Swiss star Wawrinka.

“It was painful in the match, but still OK with tape on it. But after a lot of treatment last night and some tests this morning, it’s dangerous for me to play because the pain is still there. So I will have to see a doctor to see if I will be OK in the next few weeks.”

German fifth seed Kohlschreiber will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 7-5, for a place in the final.

In the other quarter-finals on Friday, French second seed Gilles Simon beat Luxemburg’s Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-4 while Martin Klizan of Slovakia came from behind to defeat Spanish fourth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).

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