Raonic Stumbles Out of Newport As Almagro Survives in Bastad

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Albert Gea/Reuters

(July 12, 2012) -- Wearing a ill-fitting headband while often times look uncomfortable even running on the grass courts of Newport, No. 3 seed Milos Raonic found himself bundled out in straight sets at the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.

Taking on veteran Benjamin Baker, Raonic looked unsure all match as he either netted shots on both his forehand and backhand sides while serving a mediocre 50% for the day. After dropping the first set, Raonic netted a backhand down break point to give Becker a 2-1 lead in the second set. Raonic had two break point chances late in the set but clutch serving from Becker allowed him to hold on for the 6-3, 6-3 upset win.

"If you qualify you have three good matches under your belt," explained Becker to ATP.com. "You know the courts, which is a little bit of an advantage over the guys who have only played one match. He didn’t serve many aces, whereas last time I played him he served nearly 30 aces. His serve wasn’t as effective today; I made him play a lot on his second serve and used my chances."

Becker will now take on Ryan Harrison in the quarterfinals after Harrison took out fellow American Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-4.

Lleyton Hewitt was the first man to reach the semifinals after he defeated Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-3. Hewitt will now face former champion Rajeev Ram whose old school style of serve and volley tennis helped him totally frustrate No. 2 seed Kei Nishikori who went down 7-6(6) 6-3.

Almagro Survives Scare in Bastad

No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro almost found himself tossed out of the SkiStar Swedish Open in straight sets by Ivo Minar after Almagro got off to a very slow start losing the first set 6-1. Almagro just managed to win the second set in a tiebreak and from there recovered to win the match. 1-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.

Almagro will next meet fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the quarters while today's other winner No. 6 seed Grigor Dimitrov and No. 3 seed Albert Ramos set up another quarterfinal battle for tomorrow.

Monaco Prevails on Upset Filled Day in Stuttgart

In a day filled with upsets at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, No. 2 seed Juan Monaco had little trouble defeating Germany's own Tobias Kamke 6-2, 6-3. Monaco will now face World No. 206 Pavol Cervenak in the quarterfinals after he shocked No. 8 seed Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-4 with an upset win over the German.

Bernard Tomic's recent woes on the tennis court continued as he fell to Thomaz Bellucci 7-6(6), 6-3. Bellucci will now face Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.

Verdasco Prevails in Topsy-Turvy Battle with Gulbis in Umag

In what was expected to be a roller coaster of a match, top seed Fernando Verdasco was pushed to three sets by Ernests Gulbis at the ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag.

Gulbis, who survived eight break points and needed 13 minutes to hold in his opening service game of the match, was eventually broken twice by Verdasco as he took the first set 6-2. Gulbis turned things around to win the second set but Verdasco turned the tables one more time as he cruised in the third set to complete a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory in just over two hours.

In other results, No. 3 seed and defending champion Alexandr Dolgopolov eased past Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-4.