Sports
The defending champion will face Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the quarter finals at Roland Garros.
Updated : Sep 30, 2017, 06:01 AM IST
Defending champion Stan Wawrinka moved into the French Open quarter-finals today where he will face a Spanish left-hander who isn't named Rafael Nadal. That honour falls to unheralded Albert Ramos-Vinolas who reached his first Grand Slam last-eight with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic.
Third seed Wawrinka, for his part, saw off Serbia's Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (7/9), 6-3, 6-2 for his 11th straight win in the year's second Grand Slam. "It was far from easy with tough conditions -- heavy and cold, but I am happy to have come through it," 31-year-old Wawrinka said.
"It was a big battle, but I was able to stay calm and win this match."
It was Wawrinka's fifth win in five meetings with Troicki whose challenge fizzled out after he required treatment for a right thigh injury at 4-1 down in the third set.
Ramos-Vinolas, 28, had never got beyond the second round of any major before this Roland Garros and had failed to win a match at the tournament since 2011.
But the world number 55, who is only his country's ninth best player, ensured a left-hander from Spain would be in the last-eight after the injury-enforced withdrawal of nine-time champion Nadal.
"I had lost four times in a row here so I am very happy," said the shock winner who had also won just four matches in his entire career at the majors before coming to Paris.
"I played a great match. I think the cloudy conditions helped me as they made the court slower." He trails Wawrinka 6-0 in career meetings including last week in Geneva where he won just two games.
"Wawrinka is the titleholder. He's hugely powerful. Last week I played him, and he won very easily," said Ramos-Vinolas.
"He didn't leave any opportunity for me to play my tennis. But this is another tournament."