Milos Raonic has edged out Feliciano Lopez in a thrilling five-set battle to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
The number eight seed had already wasted two match points to progress through when the contest was taken to a decider, but he was able to hold his nerve to win 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-7 6-3 at the Hisense Arena.
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Both players did well to hold their serve in a tightly-contested opening set, up until the 10th game when Raonic broke his opponent to edge ahead in an entertaining last-16 tie.
It was Lopez who held his nerve - and serve - in the following set, however, grabbing the only break in the ninth game to level up the match in Melbourne.
Heading into this one, the quality of serve was always going to play a big part in who progressed, and that proved to be the case once more in third set as a single break in the second game allowed Raonic to hold out and take control overall at 2-1 in sets.
A tie-break was required to separate the pair in set four, as yet again both players held their service game, giving little away in a mammoth battle.
Despite seemingly having a mountain to climb, Lopez was able to save two match points to level things up overall and set up a tense finale in the process.
Much like the match as a whole, the fifth set remained close throughout, but it was the Canadian who came out on top to book his third Grand Slam quarter-final appearance.
Raonic, who will now face either Novak Djokovic or Gilles Muller in the next round, broke serve in the eighth game to edge out his Spanish opponent in a nail-biting finish to proceedings, making no mistake with his next match point to advance through following some impressive aces.
Daniel Lewis
