Raonic storms into Chennai Open quarters

CHENNAI: One set into the match and the picture was clear. Nobody would take his first name away from Victor Hanescu but he wouldn't be the winner of his second-round match against Milos Raonic at the Aircel Chennai Open.
The fourth seed served 9 fiery aces and along with it, a statement of intent, towards his rivals during a 6-1, 6-4 victory against the Romanian, on Wednesday.
The 21-year old looked in a hurry at the SDAT Stadium Nungambakkam stadium as he stormed through the first set 6-1. Though Hanescu managed to slow him down a bit after the first set, Raonic, the ATP newcomer of the year 2011, showed why he is one of the tournament's favourites and the players to watch in 2102.
It was all Raonic in the first set as he broke Hanescu in the second and sixth games of the first set, while his own serve was hardly tested. But Hanescu won the best point of the match when he instinctively picked up a Raonic forehand shot between his legs and then followed it up with a neat backhand cross-court passing shot.
But those moments were few and far in between as the Canadian bulldozed his way past the tall Romanian in the first set. Hanescu fared much better in the second set and had four breakpoints in the beginning for a chance to go 2-0 up.
But Raonic used his serve and Hanescu's inability to close down on crucial junctures, to bail him out. The world No.31 found his serve going again and Hanescu never had a chance after that.
The 30-year-old lost his serve again as Raonic converted his third break point to go 4-3 up. The Canadian had another easy service game and Hanescu at 3-5 was serving to stay in the match.
He did that, for a while, but when Raonic tossed up the ball once again to serve, there was only one conclusion. That came soon, and after a couple of serves which was fired at speed of more than 220 km per hour, Raonic fittingly finished it off with an ace.
On Tuesday, local lads Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Sriram Balaji gave an impressive account of themselves in their first ever ATP tour match before going down to the no.2 seeds Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram of the US.
Wawrinka finds going tough
In the second match, defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka survived a huge scare from lucky loser Edouard Roger-Vasselin before eking out a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory in 2 hours and 25 minutes.
Wawrinka was broken three times as he lost the first set, but the third seed found his touch in the second set to win it 6-3.
In the third set, Wawrinka was again a break down and at 3-5 staring at defeat. But the champion responded in style, breaking back in the tenth and twelfth games of the match to win it 7-5.
In the quarterfinals, Wawrinka will play Japanese qualifier Go Soeda who go the better of Ivan Dodig 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-1. Raonic's quarterfinal opponent will be Dudi Sela who rallied from a set down to defeat Spaniard Riba Pere 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Paes-Tipsarevic duo in quarters
Leander Paes and his Serbian partner Janko Tipsarevic beat Canadians Raonic and Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 4-6, 10-7 to advance to the doubles quarterfinals. They will now meet Italian Fabio Fognini and Slovakian Igor Zelenay.