Milos Raonic and John Isner were knocked out of the Valencia Open by lower-ranked opponents on Wednesday, denting their chances of clinching one of two remaining berths at next month's World Tour finals in London [ Images ].
-WTA Championships: Azarenka, Sharapova survive marathons
Eighth-seeded Canadian Raonic lost his first-round match against Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 7-5, 7-6, while American Isner, the fifth seed, was beaten 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round by Belgian 21-year-old David Goffin, who reached his third Tour quarter-final of the season.
Seventh seed Marin Cilic [ Images ] of Croatia [ Images ] improved his chances of a spot in London when he cruised past unseeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco [ Images ] 6-1, 6-4 in the second round.
Cilic will play Ivan Dodig in the last eight after the Croatian qualifier beat former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt [ Images ] of Australia [ Images ], a wild card at the indoor hard court event, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Defending champion Marcel Granollers [ Images ] of Spain won his first round match against Czech qualifier Jan Hajek 7-5, 6-4.
Top seed David Ferrer plays his second-round match against unseeded Spanish compatriot Albert Ramos on Thursday.
Ferrer, the World No. 5, has already qualified for London along with Roger Federer [ Images ], Novak Djokovic [ Images ], Andy Murray [ Images ], Rafael Nadal [ Images ] and Tomas Berdych.
Photograph: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
this
Users
Comment
article