Tennis

Milos Raonic overcomes sore hip to advance at French Open

Bothered a bit by his hip, and despite some trouble closing things out, Canada's Milos Raonic moved into the fourth round of the French Open for the second time in three years with a straight-sets win over Andrej Martin of Slovakia on Friday.

Canadian has not lost a set through 3 matches

Milos Raonic eyes a backhand during his third-round match against Andrej Martin at the French Open in Paris. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Canadian Milos Raonic overcame a hip issue to advance to the fourth round of the French Open for the second time in three years.

The hard-serving No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., converted his fifth match point to get past Andrej Martin of Slovakia 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-3 on Friday.

Milos Raonic reaches Round of 16 at French Open

9 years ago
Duration 0:40
Raonic battled through hip injury in defeating Andrej Martin 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-3

Raonic needed treatment in the third set to loosen the muscles in his left hip area.

"The trainer was able to assure me that from what he could tell, there was nothing serious there," Raonic said. "I'll have tests done on it now and take it from there."

Raonic suffered a small tear to his right adductor muscle at the Australian Open in January. He took February off but was still hampered by hip problems at the Indian Wells tournament in March.

"It was my opposite hip [on Friday] so I didn't really think too much of it," Raonic said. "I just tried to fight through. I tried to manage the situation as much as I could and I'm happy with the fact that I was able to continue through with [some] efficiency."

The 2014 French Open quarter-finalist compiled a 43-22 edge in winners.

Raonic's next opponent is unseeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who defeated 23rd-seeded American Jack Sock in five sets on Friday.

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., is the lone Canadian remaining in the singles draws after Eugenie Bouchard was eliminated in the second round of the women's tournament on Thursday.

In women's doubles, Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and her Spanish teammate Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez lost their second-round match Friday to Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Canadians Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil have already advanced to the second round of the men's doubles tournament with their respective partners.

McEnroe to coach Raonic

John McEnroe says he is returning to Grand Slam tennis — as a coach.

The seven-time major title winner said Friday on the Eurosport show The Commissioner that he is going to be a consultant to Raonic at Wimbledon next month.

McEnroe won three championships at the All England Club in the early 1980s. He is in Paris to work as a TV analyst during the French Open.

Raonic was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2014 and made it that far again at this year's Australian Open.

Raonic is being coached in Paris by 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moya and Riccardo Piatti.

Nadal pulls out

Nine-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Grand Slam tournament on Friday, citing an injury to his left wrist.

"A very tough moment, because you ... wait for these two weeks for the whole year," said a glum-looking Nadal, who announced his withdrawal the day before his third-round match.

The left-handed Spaniard was wearing a blue brace on his wrist during what he called "one of the toughest press conferences in my career."

Nadal, who owns a total of 14 Grand Slam titles, said he would not even have tried to compete at any other tournament with the injury, "but it's the most important event of the year for me."

He played his second-round match Thursday after getting an injection to numb his wrist. But he said that he began "to feel more and more pain" overnight and could not move his wrist much Friday morning, so he went for an MRI exam.

"The results," he said, "are not positive."​

Radwanska drops wild rally but still wins

Women's No. 2 seed Agnieszka Radwanska won her third-round match against No. 30 Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-2 despite losing a wild rally.

Must see: Agnieszka Radwanska loses crazy rally, but wins match

9 years ago
Duration 0:55
Second-seed advances to French Open Round of 16 with three-set win over Barbora Strycova

Murray finally makes it easy

This was just what Andy Murray needed: a simple victory and a short workday.

After needing comeback after comeback and 10 sets across more than seven hours to get through his first two matches this week, the second-seeded Murray breezed into the fourth round by beating No. 27 Ivo Karlovic 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (3). It took less than 2 hours.

Andy Murray advances to French Open's Round of 16

9 years ago
Duration 0:35
Second-seed breezes past Ivo Karlovic 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (3)

Murray twice trailed by a set in the first round, then was two sets down in the second. But against the big-serving 6-foot-11 Karlovic, Murray was in control right from the start.

After 20 minutes of play, Murray — a two-time major champion and three-time semifinalist at Roland Garros — already led 5-0 with the help of two breaks of serve.

Murray broke Karlovic once more to bring the total to three and never faced a single break point himself.

Karlovic wound up with only 14 aces after hitting a tournament-high 72 aces through the opening two rounds.

Wawrinka gaining momentum

After a rough start, defending champion Stan Wawrinka is finding his mojo.

The third-seeded Swiss hit 36 winners in a 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 victory against Jeremy Chardy that advanced him to the fourth round.

His French opponent, seeded No. 30, was hurt by 35 unforced errors.

He rekindled the Paris crowd — which chanted "Jeremy! Jeremy!" — by breaking back to 5-5 in the third set.

But Wawrinka then broke for Chardy a fifth and final time in the match and served out the win.

In the first round, Wawrinka flirted with the possibility of becoming the first defending champion to fall that early at Roland Garros, finally coming through in five sets.

And he wasn't super-smooth in the second round against Taro Daniel from Japan.

But Wawrinka liked the way he overpowered Chardy, patting himself on the back for his "very good level" in his "very, very good match."

Kvitova bounced

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova played one good set between two poor ones and was stunned in the third round 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-0 by 108th-ranked Shelby Rogers of the United States.

The 10th-seeded Kvitova was a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2012.

Rogers, a 23-year-old from South Carolina, reached the round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

She did it by playing much more cleanly than Kvitova, making half as many unforced errors (36 to 18) and getting broken only once.

Nishikori to face Gasquet

After two flawless rounds, Kei Nishikori dropped two sets en route to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Fernando Verdasco.

The fifth-seeded Japanese player hadn't dropped a set before going 3 hours, 21 minutes against the 52nd-ranked Spaniard playing his 13th French Open.

Nishikori next plays ninth-seeded Richard Gasquet. The ninth-seeded French player beat Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 7-6 (7), 6-2.

With files from CBC Sports