TOKYO - Canadian Milos Raonic reached his 11th quarter-final of the season Thursday as the third seed overpowered Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-3 at the Japan Open.
The Thornhill, Ont. native, who was a Wimbledon semifinalist and twice runner-up in the Japanese capital at the ATP 500 event, spent 74 minutes is defeating Austria's 33-year-old veteran after losing to Melzer in 2012 indoors in Memphis.
Raonic, who is fighting for a place in the year-end final in a field limited to eight players, will aim for the Japanese semifinals on Friday when he takes on Denis Istomin. The Uzbek beat Poland's Michel Przysiezny 6-4, 7-6 (5) to book his spot.
Raonic stands provisional ninth in the points race to the World Tour Finals next month in London and is trying to close the gap on Tomas Berdych, who currently stands one place ahead of him on the last of the qualifying spots.
But with this week in Japan, plus Shanghai next week and then three final weeks in Europe, there is plenty of tennis left to play.
Raonic secured his victory over Melzer with a modest 11 aces -- half for his total in the previous round -- breaking the Austrian three times.
