Unlike most players who participated yesterday, Canadian Milos Raonic had a couple of days off at the Rogers Cup. The rest, though, didn’t help as he fell to American John Isner in the quarter-finals last night, ending his hope at winning a tournament on home soil.
Raonic and Isner opened their match with a marathon first set, which saw the American ultimately win 7-6 (9) before grabbing the match-clinching second set 6-4. While the Canadian put up a valiant effort, the 6’9 Isner proved that he wasn’t just overpowering in appearance but in his game as well.
With the win, Isner moves on to today’s semi-final (weather-permitting) where he will face France’s Richard Gasquet, who defeated American Mardy Fish just minutes before the big guy took the court for his match with Raonic.
So, the semi-final matchups are now set. In addition to John Isner versus Richard Gasquet, it will be #2 Novak Djokovic, who hung on to beat Germany’s Tommy Haas last night, up against his countryman Janko Tipsaveric.
With the loss, the drought continues as it will now be 55 years since a Canadian last won the Rogers Cup. Again, Raonic put forth a great effort yesterday but it just wasn’t his match as his opponent was simply too strong. So, while the hometown boy is out, there is still lots of great tennis to be played.
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Ryan Cowley is a writer at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter @RyanACowley.
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