Sunday 29 May 2016 18:37, UK
Albert Ramos-Vinolas stunned eighth seed Milos Raonic at the French Open to reach the first Grand Slam quarter-final of his career.
The 28-year-old from Barcelona, who has never previously gone beyond the second round of a Grand Slam, produced almost two-and-a-half hours of inspired tennis and brutal hitting to see off the world No 9 at Roland Garros.
Ramos-Vinolas, ranked number 55 in the world, will now face defending champion Stan Wawrinka who needed four sets to beat Viktor Troicki on Philippe-Chatrier..
Raonic has been earmarked as the next man to make a major breakthrough and ran Andy Murray close in the semi-final of the Australian Open earlier this year, but he will have to to wait until a least Wimbledon after his shock exit.
Raonic also confirmed a link-up that will see seven-time singles Grand Slam champion John McEnroe join his coaching team but he will do so after a desperately disappointing showing.
Ramos-Vinolas broke crucially in the ninth game of the third set to serve for the match and he wasted two match points before his second ace of the match set up a third - and it was an opportunity he would not waste, clinching a 6-2 6-4 6-4 victory and a place in the last eight.
"I had lost four times in a row here so I am very happy," Ramos-Vinolas said.
"I played a great match. I think the cloudy conditions helped me as they made the court slower. It was a great day. I played solid and put a lot of first serves in. These are very good days."
Elsewhere Wawrinka, who stunned Novak Djokovic in last year's Roland Garros final, has put a largely disappointing European clay-court swing behind him with a defence of his title that gets stronger by the day.
The Swiss third seed needed five sets to beat Lukas Rosol in the first round but since that has found fine form to move into the last eight relatively unchallenged.
Wawrinka rode an early storm from Troicki, after the pair shared the first two sets in tie-break, to come through 7-6 6-7 6-3 6-2.
