Canadian Milos Raonic tops Sousa to advance to fourth round at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Canada’s Milos Raonic advanced to the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday, beating Joao Sousa of Portugal 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

Raonic, seeded 32nd at the Masters 1,000 tournament and ranked 38th in the ATP standings, used his powerful serve to get past his unseeded opponent.

The Thornhill, Ont., product fired 12 aces to Sousa’s seven and won 93 per cent of his first-service points.

Raonic was down 5-4 in the first set but battled back, breaking Sousa as he was serving for the set. He broke Sousa again for the 7-5 win.

Raonic was 4 for 11 in break-points and had 100 total winners throughout the match, which lasted two hours 12 minutes.

The 27-year-old right-hander made the finals of the BNP Paribas Open in 2016 before losing to Novak Djokovic.

Raonic is the last Canadian remaining in the singles draw. He defeated 17-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal in the third round.

Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., was ousted in the second round.