Milos Raonic takes out crowd favorite Joachim Johansson in straight sets on Thursday in Stockholm. Raonic is joined in the quarterfinals by David Ferrer, a three-set winner over Jack Sock.
(2) Milos Raonic d. (Q) Joachim Johansson 6-2, 7-6(3)
Making his first tournament appearance of any kind since March of 2011, Johansson saw his run at the If Stockholm Open come to an end at the hands of Raonic during second-round action on Thursday night. Raonic held all 10 of his service games without facing a single break point as he advanced in one hour and 23 minutes.
Johansson had done well to qualify for the main draw and roll over Alejandro Falla in the first round. The 31-year-old Swede also put up a strong showing against Raonic after a quiet first set. He saved seven break points to force a tiebreaker, but his opponent had too much in the end. Raonic secured a quick mini-break, held service points for 3-1, 4-1, 5-3, and 6-3, then converted his first match point when Johansson erred with a forehand. Next up for the second-seeded Canadian is Benoit Paire.
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(1) David Ferrer d. Jack Sock 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Ferrer overcame a slow start to defeat Sock and book a spot in the quarterfinals after one hour and 36 minutes. Coming off a solid straight-set win over Bernard Tomic, Sock was quick to maintain momentum. The 21-year-old American gave back an early break, but he broke his opponent’s serve twice in the first set–for a second time at 5-4 to finish it off in style.
The rest of the way, though, it was almost all Ferrer. The third-ranked Spaniard seized two breaks in the second without facing a break point on his own serve. Sock soon double-faulted twice in the second game of the decider to fall behind 0-2. Another double-fault at 1-4, 30-40 all but ended the underdog’s upset chances. Ferrer served out the proceedings one game later to set up a showdown against compatriot Fernando Verdasco.
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