Raonic to face Nieminen in quarters Friday

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Milos Raonic will compete in the quarter-finals on Friday against face Jarkko Nieminen at the Thailand Open. It will be Raonic’s first ever meeting with the Finn.

The 21-year-old from Thornhill, Ont. advanced to the quarter-finals at the Thailand Open on Thursday with a 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Ivo Karlovic.

Raonic is playing the autumn ATP Asian swing and will compete in the Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo next week.

The right-hander travelled to Asia after winning both of his Davis Cup matches as Canada regained a place in the World group with a defeat of South Africa in Montreal.

Raonic reached his first two Masters 1000 quarter-finals (Toronto and Cincinnati) and matched his career-best Grand Slam performance by reaching the US Open fourth round, where he lost to Andy Murray but raised his ATP ranking to 15th.

Raonic is playing the first time in Thailand after experiencing a few days at the beach resort island of Samui.

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