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Raonic reaches first clay quarterfinal

Big-serving Milos Raonic is hoping to follow up his success on the hard-court circuit as the tennis season moves to clay.
Big-serving Milos Raonic is hoping to follow up his success on the hard-court circuit as the tennis season moves to clay.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Fifth seed Milos Raonic sets up quarterfinal against French No. 4 Gilles Simon
  • Canadian, ranked 27th, is the second-youngest player currently in the world's top-100
  • Second seed Viktor Troicki crashes out in second round of Serbia Open
  • Top three players eliminated in quarterfinals of women's event in Portugal

(CNN) -- Canada's rising star Milos Raonic broke more new ground when he reached the first clay quarterfinal of his short top-level career in Portugal on Thursday.

The 20-year-old, seeded fifth at the Estoril Open, set up a clash with French No. 4 Gilles Simon after beating local wild-card entry Joao Sousa 6-3 6-3.

Raonic, the second-youngest player in the top-100, is the highest-ranked Canadian in the history of the ATP Tour at 27th.

He has leapt up from a year-starting 156th following his first title at the San Jose hard-court event and then a losing final in Memphis earlier this year, also reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open.

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I think it might be better to play him now instead of for the first time when he may be in the top 15
--Gilles Simon on Raonic
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Raonic lost in the last 16 in the European season's opening clay events at Monte Carlo and Barcelona this month, which both had bigger entry fields, as he attempts to adapt his big-serving game to the more subtle surface.

"He's the player with some of the best for this season," world No. 22 Simon told AFP of a player who has the third-fastest serve on record. "He's playing well but he doesn't have that much experience on clay.

"I think it might be better to play him now instead of for the first time when he may be in the top 15."

Simon beat Argentina's Carlos Berlocq 6-2 6-1 in his second-round match.

The winner of his clash with Raonic will take on either second seed Fernando Verdasco or South Africa's big-serving Kevin Anderson in the semifinals.

Verdasco has dropped from ninth to 15th in the rankings after a run of early exits, but he rebounded to beat another Portuguese wild-card, Frederico Gil, 6-1 7-6 (7-5).

Seventh seed Anderson defeated Victor Hanescu 6-4 6-2, avenging his defeat by the Romanian in the second round in Barcelona.

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In Belgrade, second seed Viktor Troicki crashed out in second round of his home Serbia Open.

The world No. 16, who helped Serbia win last year's Davis Cup final, lost 6-2 6-3 to 52nd-ranked Spaniard Marcel Granollers.

Granollers will next face unseeded Italian Filippo Volandri, who beat Ukraine's Illya Marchenko 6-3 1-6 6-3.

Third seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez also crashed out against India's Somdev Devvarman.

Devvarman, ranked 71st, had lost to the Spaniard in Houston on clay this month but triumphed 7-6 (8-6) 2-6 7-6 (10-8).

He will next play seventh seed Janka Tipsarevic after the Serbian beat Russia-born German Mischa Zverev 6-2 6-0.

In Munich, third seed Marin Cilic, No. 5 Florian Mayer and fellow German Philipp Kohlschreiber reached the quarterfinals of the BMW Open on Thursday.

Croatia's Cilic will take on Russian seventh seed Nikolay Davydenko following his 6-3 7-6 (9-7) win over Argentina's Horacio Zeballos.

Mayer beat Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4 7-6 (7-1) to set up a clash with young Bulgarian Grigo Dimitrov, while eighth seed Kohlschreiber faces Czech Radek Stepanek after eliminating compatriot Denis Gremelmayr 6-3 6-3.

In the semifinals of the Barcelona Women's Open, Italian fifth seed Sara Errani will play Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic.

Errani won 6-3 6-2 against compatriot Alberta Brianti, who won the Fes Grand Prix in Morocco last weekend.

Another Italian reached the last four after sixth seed Roberta Vinci beat France's Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-1 to set up a clash with Slovenia's Polona Hercog or Spain's Laura Pous-Tio.

The top three seeds of the women's event in Estoril all lost in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Top-ranked Alisa Kleybanova of Russia lost 6-4 6-2 to Germany's Kristina Barrois, who came back from 4-1 down in the opening set.

The 19-year-old will next face Sweden's 80th-ranked Johanna Larsson, who beat Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva 6-2 7-5.

Austrian second seed Jarmila Gajdosova also tumbled out, losing 5-7 6-4 6-2 to Romania's Monica Niculescu.

Niculescu will take on Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, who beat Czech third seed Klara Zakopalova 6-3 7-5.