Andy Murray has crashed out of the Barcelona Open at the quarter-final stage after slumping to a 6-4 7-6 defeat to Milos Raonic.
Scot stunned as Raonic wins first meeting on unfavoured clay
Andy Murray has crashed out of the Barcelona Open at the quarter-final stage after slumping to a surprise 6-4 7-6 (7/3) defeat to Milos Raonic.
In what was his first meeting with the big-serving Canadian, Murray struggled to cope with his opponent's power-hitting, losing serve once in each set before being edged out in a decisive tie-breaker.
Raonic, who crushed sixth seed Nicolas Almagro in the previous round, headed into the match having never beaten a top-eight player nor faced Murray on the ATP Tour.
He endured a minor blip when serving for the second set, allowing second seed Murray his first break of the match, before breezing through the tie-break to clinch the biggest win of his fledgling career in one hour 44 minutes.
Vital
With titles at San Jose and Chennai already to his name in 2012, Raonic was always likely to pose Murray plenty of problems, and so it proved.
The Ontario resident capitalised on an error-strewn seventh game from Murray to snatch the only break of a first set which saw Raonic win 94 per cent of his first serve points.
Murray survived two further break points at 3-3 in the second set, winning four successive points from 15-40 to claim what appeared a vital hold.
The 24-year-old Scot relinquished his next serve, though, only to break back with Raonic serving for the match.
But in the tie-break the Canadian continued to reap the rewards his fearless play merited as two points against serve proved key.
Raonic, who fired down 14 aces in total, will face third seed David Ferrer in the semi-finals, the Spaniard having progressed with a 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 result against compatriot Feliciano Lopez.
Rafael Nadal also made it through to the last four thanks to a 6-2 6-2 thrashing of Janko Tipsarevic, his 32nd straight win in the tournament.
The top seed managed five breaks of serve before finishing the one-sided contest with back-to-back aces.
The next man standing in Nadal's way of a seventh title in Barca is his countryman Fernando Verdasco, who progressed in the last match of the day after Kei Nishikori was forced to retire with an abdominal injury when trailing 4-2 in the first set.
