Ferrer gets the best of Raonic at Monaco tennis event

MONACO -

The 20-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., leaves his first ATP clay event with a new appreciation of what it will take to defeat a specialist on the surface.

Raonic was overwhelmed for the second time this season by Ferrer, a scampering, retrieving opponent who lets few balls get past him. The fourth-seeded Ferrer, ranked sixth in the world, is at his most lethal on clay.

"It was a good learning experience but conditions were a lot slower today," said Raonic. "He was really getting to everything.

"Anything I was throwing, he'd find a solution, if not on that point, the next one. He was playing really well. Even if I'm out, I'm happy with how it went this week.

Raonic, coached by Spaniard Galo Blanco, was limited to one ace in the 76-minute match, losing his serve five times and breaking only once. Raonic managed just 13 winners and had 40 unforced errors as he learned a lesson on the clay from an experienced practitioner.

Raonic never made an impression against Ferrer as the Spaniard swept the opening set in 35 minutes. In the second, Raonic lost serve in the third game but rallied in the fourth as Ferrer played a poor game.

But the Spaniard quickly found his game to run out the win as Raonic sent a backhand long on match point.

Raonic's loss left his record at 18-5 this season and 0-2 against the 29-year-old Ferrer, who beat him in four sets in January at the Australian Open.

The good news for Raonic is he will move into the top 30 in next week's rankings to ensure himself a seeding for the French Open.

Raonic, the youngest player in the draw, will try his luck on clay next week in Barcelona during a breakthrough season in which his ranking has surged from No. 156 to No. 34.

"I'm looking forward to Barcelona, I'll have a chance there to play some more matches and try to get some more wins. I've got to be happy with how it went here. He was just better than me today."

Ferrer next faces 11-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who was trailing 3-6, 2-1 when Spaniard Tommy Robredo retired.

Also advancing was six-time defending champion Rafael Nadal and Swiss star Roger Federer.

Nadal, of Spain, defeated Richard Gasquet of France 6-2, 6-4 while Federer dispatched Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-4, 6-3.

The top-ranked Spaniard remains on track for a fourth Monte Carlo final, having beaten Federer for the title from 2006-08.

"I think I was consistent and didn't allow him to get into the points he wanted to on my own serve," said the second-seeded Federer.

The 16-time Grand Slam champion next plays seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, while Nadal faces Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who beat fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2 to reach his third quarter-final of the season.

Nadal has lost his last three finals -- once to Federer and twice against second-ranked Novak Djokovic -- and is without a title since winning the Japan Open in October. He felt he was far more aggressive than he was against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen on Wednesday.

"I feel when I'm playing well with the forehand, is very important shot for me. So I can have the control of the point most of the time," said Nadal, who broke Gasquet's serve twice in each set. "When I am playing well with the forehand, everything is a little bit less difficult."

Nadal had a brief wobble when the 13th-seeded Gasquet picked up his form late in the second set, breaking the Spaniard's serve with a superb crosscourt winner from the back of the court to level at 4-4.

But Gasquet hurried his shots in the next game, going for spectacular forehand winners, and Nadal broke back.

Federer once again looked sharp, just as he did in beating Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in just 50 minutes in the second round. Federer won 79 per cent of his first-serve points and 75 per cent of the second, breaking Cilic once in each set.

"I'm mixing it up well, using kick serves, slider, hitting it hard enough, making sure that I don't have to maybe go through that many second serves," Federer said.

Nadal broke the 13th-seeded Frenchman's serve twice in each set, as he extended his win streak at the clay-court tournament to 34 matches.

Third-seeded Andy Murray ousted a hobbling Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3. The Frenchman turned his right ankle jumping up to play a forehand from the baseline at the end of the first set and completed the match with the ankle heavily wrapped.

Murray was jeered by fans throughout the second set for playing several drop shots that Simon could not return.

"Well, you just got to deal with it. I wasn't doing anything wrong," Murray said. "I know every single player on the tour would have done exactly the same thing."

Simon agreed with Murray, adding that "even without my injury he would have won the first set." Simon is optimistic his sore ankle will heal within a few days.

Murray next will play Portuguese qualifier Frederico Gil, who upset the eighth-seeded Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-2.