Raonic dedicates Melbourne win to Canadian shooting victims

A gunman opened fire at the La Loche Community School in a remote aboriginal community in Saskatchewan, and at a second location. “But at the end of the day, the most important thing is I got the win”, Raonic said. “There was a shooting in a high school in a small town”. I give my thoughts to that community, the families, the students and the school affected.

“We wish you all the best”. All of Canada, and I’m sure the world, is behind you.

Raonic is seeded 13th and has won eight of his last ten matches, having not lost since falling to Rafael Nadal during the third round at the Shanghai Masters in mid-October.

Both Milos Raonic and Viktor Troicki have had impressive starts to 2016, however, just one can go through to the fourth round when they meet in what shapes as a gruelling fixture.

The experienced Spaniard Robredo resisted stoically throughout and saved 11 of 12 break point opportunities until he finally crumbled at the crucial moment in the third set.

If Raonic is on form after his tournament win in Brisbane two weeks ago – he’s 6-0 on the season, the same can be said of Troicki, who is 7-1 and defeated Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in a third-set tiebreaker to win the tournament in Sydney last week.

When the two played last fall in Beijing, with Troicki winning 6-4, 6-4 in a first-round matchup.

Raonic caught the sideline with a service victor to set up match point and advanced when Troicki returned long over the baseline.

The fourth-seeded 2014 champion continued his trouble-free campaign on Saturday with a 6-2 6-3 7-6 (7-3) victory over Czech Lukas Rosol.

Victoria Azarenka has quickly dispatched another opponent at Melbourne Park, defeating Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour.

On the other side of the world, the Australian Open is the first Grand Slam of the year.

Azarenka had 24 winners to only four for Osaka, who was making her Grand Slam main draw debut.

“I felt I was sort of forcing it a bit too much”.

Reigning French Open champion and 2014 Australian Open victor Stan Wawrinka stands in the way of Raonic and back-to-back quarter-finals in Melbourne.

Muguruza’s rapid rise to the No. 3 ranking sharpened the focus on her run in Australia, attention which only increased after No. 2-ranked Simona Halep and No. 8 Venus Williams, a seven-time major victor, lost in the first round.