Milos Raonic stuns Stan Wawrinka in fourth round

Canadian Milos Raonic held off an inspired comeback from fourth-seed and former champion Stan Wawrinka on Monday, beating the Swiss 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals for the second straight year.

Raonic took three hours to wrap up the match and book a place in the quarter-final.

Milos Raonic’s five-set win over French Open champion Stan Wawrinka means the only man to have beaten Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open after 2010 is out of the singles draw at Melbourne Park.

But there was not enough left in the tank and Raonic broke midway through the deciding set, staying rock solid to post a first win over Wawrinka at the fifth attempt.

Monfils expects to be fully fit for clash with Raonic – and will need to be after the 13th seed continued his hot start to 2016 with a 6-4 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-3 victory over Wawrinka.

Raonic, who earlier spoke of his grief over a high school shooting in his home country, eliminated the Swiss world number four 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3 and will face Gael Monfils in the quarters.

First up on Rod Laver Arena is Maria Sharapova’s fourth-round match against Belinda Bencic.

Spanish eighth seed David Ferrer is the only man to make the quarter-finals without dropping a set after continuing on his merry way with a 6-4 6-4 7-5 triumph over American 10th seed John Isner.

Next up she faces No. 7 Angelique Kerber, who beat fellow German Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0 in the preceding match on Rod Laver Arena.

The athletic Frenchman went airborne for an unsuccessful baseline volley during his four-set battle with Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov, to excited applause from the crowd.

With both players already earning titles in 2016 and neither having lost a match, the expected arm wrestle between two of the game’s in-form heavyweights turned out to be a one-sided affair early on, with the big Canadian taking charge from the outset to win the first two sets comfortably in 38 minutes apiece.

“I was volleying the first volley really well”, Raonic said. In the ninth game, Raonic broke serve then served out the set winning it 6-4.

But Wawrinka lifted his intensity and took the match to a fifth set.

“I want to say bad luck to Madison for her injury”.

“I think it’s just about a calm, and understanding how I can be more efficient with my game”, Raonic said when asked what Moya could bring to his game.

“I played smart, I played aggressive, I took my opportunities and I really kept my composure”, Azarenka said.

The Briton’s new partnership with Brazilian Soares is a promising one as the pair reached the semi-finals in Doha in their first tournament of the year and then won a title in Sydney. I have been spending a lot of time learning about myself this trip.

The big-serving Canadian said he felt fitter, faster and more confident in going to the net more frequently, and all that combined to produce his first win on Melbourne Park’s center court.

The seventh-seeded Nishikori also reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open past year and in 2012.