Wimbledon: Milos Raonic upset by Nick Kyrgios; Serena survives

Canadian tennis star Milos Raonic has been eliminated from Wimbledon.

The No. 7 seed lost 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to 26th-seeded Nick Kyrgios of Australia on Friday.

Raonic was a semifinalist at last year's tournament.

He appeared to be struggling with a possible injury in the final set. Raonic had surgery for an inflamed nerve in his right foot and missed the French Open this spring.

Kyrgios —the 20-year-old Australian who stunned Rafael Nadal here last year — served 34 aces and hit flashy winners from all over the court to reach the round of 16 at the All England Club for the second year in a row.

"I don't fear anyone," the 26th-seeded Kyrgios said. "I definitely feel I'm playing better tennis than last year."

It was the first time Kyrgios has beaten Raonic after two defeats, including in last year's Wimbledon quarter-finals.

"I didn't want to lose again," the Australian said. "I thought it was a good day. I played some really, really good tennis."

The battle on Court 2 between Kyrgios and Raonic featured two of the young stars of the game and two of the biggest servers in tennis. While Raonic was stolid and businesslike, Kyrgios was as flamboyant and expressive as ever.

He went for spectacular winners, bantered with the crowd, pumped his fists and shouted. He hit three aces in a row in two different games. He hit second serves at 200 km/h. He waved his arms in the middle of a point that he lost. He hit a between-the-legs shot from close to the net that went long.

Kyrgios received a code violation in the second set after slamming his racket to the ground so hard it bounced over the back wall into the crowd. A male fan caught it and handed it back to him.

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Kyrgios said. "It was a good catch by the fan anyway."

Kyrgios came out during the second set sporting a Wimbledon headband in the club's official green and purple colours — only to be told that it was too colourful for the tournament's dress code. So he turned the headband inside out and wore it that way for the rest of the match.

"They told me to turn it around, so I turned it around," Krygios said.

The match turned in Kyrgios's favour when he broke for a 6-5 lead in the second set. Raonic was at the net and poised for a forehand volley but let the ball go and watched Kyrgios's forehand pass fall in for a winner. Kyrgios hit three aces in a row in the next game to close out the set.

Raonic finished with 18 aces, but broke only once out of seven chances. Raonic had 62 total winners, one more than Kyrgios, but the Australian had only 13 unforced errors, compared to 21 for the Canadian.

Kyrgios next faces Gasquet, who thoroughly dominated Dimitrov in a match between two players with classic one-handed backhands. Gasquet extended his career record to 5-0 against Dimitrov, who reached the semifinals here last year but has slumped in recent months.

A year ago, Kyrgios rallied from two sets down and saved nine match points to beat Gasquet in the second round.

`Whoever I play," Kyrgios said, "I'm just going to have the same mindset: serve well and play aggressive. If I'm doing that, then I've got a pretty high chance of winning the match."

Pospisil still alive in singles, doubles

Earlier in the day, Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil and his U.S. doubles teammate Jack Sock advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 win over Eric Butorac and Colin Fleming.

Pospisil is the only Canadian left in the singles draws. He reached the third round with Thursday's victory over Fabio Fognini.

Serena survives near upset

Pushed to the absolute limit, Serena Williams once again found a way to win.

Down 3-0 and 5-4 in the third set, twice within two points of defeat, Williams dug deep and overcame Britain's Heather Watson 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 on Centre Court to keep alive her bid for a fourth straight major title and the third leg of a calendar-year Grand Slam.

Next up for the five-time champion: a fourth-round matchup with sister Venus.

Top-ranked Serena looked on the ropes after losing six games in a row and going two breaks down in the third set. But, just as she has done so many times before, she refused to lose.

Williams ran off four games in a row as she battled back, and broke Watson in the 12th game to win on her third match point.

The 59th-ranked Watson, lifted throughout the match by a raucous partisan crowd, played the match of her life but fell short of becoming the first British woman to beat a No. 1 since Sue Barker defeated Chris Evert in Boston in 1979.

"I've had some tough losses, but that was probably my toughest match I've played [on Centre Court]," Williams said. "Heather playing in front of her home crowd ... I think she played unbelievable. She should have won the match at this point, she was up two breaks and she just really gave her all."

Venus Williams, also a five-time champion, made it to the fourth round for the first time since 2011 by beating Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2.

That sets up the 26th career meeting between the sisters — and the first at a Grand Slam since Serena won in the 2009 Wimbledon final. Overall, Serena leads 14-11.

"She's in better form than I am," Serena said of her older sister, "so I think she has a little bit of an advantage going into that match. But at least one of us will be in the quarterfinals, so that'll be good."

Djokovic moves on

Defending champion Novak Djokovic kept up his winning streak against Australian players by easily beating Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the third round.

A day after Rafael Nadal was stunned by Dustin Brown on Centre Court, Djokovic put in a clinical performance that never gave Tomic any hopes of a similar upset. Djokovic has not lost to an Australian in a tour-level match since 2006.

Djokovic broke four times, never faced a break point and made just 12 unforced errors the whole match. He has not dropped a set so far in the tournament.

French Open champion Stan Wawrinka moved into the fourth round by beating Fernando Verdasco in straight sets.

The fourth-seeded Wawrinka won 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in less than two hours on Court 1.

Meanwhile, Richard Gasquet of France improved to 5-0 against Grigor Dimitrov by beating the 11th-seeded Bulgarian 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court to make it to the second week of Wimbledon for the first time since 2012.

The 21st-seeded Gasquet needed five match points in the final game before closing out the win.​