Nadal tops Raonic to reach quarter-finals at Tokyo

Defending champion Rafael Nadal did everything right to subdue the Canadian tennis sensation Milos Raonic with a 7-5 6-3 scoreline and secured his berth in the last eight of the 2011 Japan Open Tennis Championships.

World No. 2 Rafael Nadal looked in his typical touch, as he eased past the tricky opponent Milos Raonic of Canada in straight sets with a 7-5 6-3 scoreline and secured his berth in the last eight of the 2011 Japan Open Tennis Championships, an ATP World Tour 500 Event, being played here at Tokyo, Japan.

Milos Raonic did serve brilliantly, but could not fare well in testing rallies. Nadal took 1 hour and 30 minutes to beat the Canadian, as he earned 92% points on his first serve, converted 2 out of 2 break points. Interestingly, Raonic did not have a single break point throughout the match.

Nadal got the breakthrough - just at the right time in the first set and clinched it in 54 minutes of play. Raonic did everything right till the last game of the first set and lost it. Nadal gave a fitting reply to Raonic's probing serve in the first set, as he earned 79% points on his first serve and 100% on second serve. The Spaniard converted crucial one out of one break point to pocket the first set.

Raonic failed to tackle Nadal’s counter-attack in sixth game of the second-set and gifted away a break to Spaniard. Nadal maintained that lead till the end and surge through. In the quarter-final, Nadal will take on Colombian Santiago Giraldo who beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-4 7-6.