Canada’s Milos Raonic defeats Lukas Rosol to advance to 3rd round of Aussie Open

MELBOURNE, Australia – Canada’s Milos Raonic defeated Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-3 scoreline to reach the third round of the Australian Open on Thursday.

The 13th seed now stands one victory away from duplicating his best showings at a grand slam after playing four rounds at the U.S. Open last autumn and in Melbourne in 2011.

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., will face off against 17th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber on Sunday after the German advanced over Israeli Amir Weintraub 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-4.

Raonic, who struggled in his opening match at Melbourne park, was dominant in his second, firing 18 aces to win in and coming home in just over one hour 45 minutes.

He clinched the victory just in time before temperatures rose to the day’s high of 39 Celsius, the hottest day of the event so far.

Raonic, ranked 15th in the world, had never faced Rosol before. The Czech is known for knocking Rafael Nadal out of the Wimbledon second round last June in the upset of the season.

Raonic converted on five of his eight break chances in the rout on an outside court. He broke three times in the second set and was equally untroubled as he rolled to the win.