ATP Kremlin Cup: Top seed Milos Raonic jeopardises spot in Race To London after Moscow defeat

Top seed Milos Raonic suffered a shock 6-3 4-6 6-3 defeat to Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis at the Kremlin Cup on Thursday.

The defeat puts the big-hitting Canadian in danger of failing to qualify for next month's ATP tour finals in London.

Playing with his right arm in strapping, Raonic, who received a bye into the second round, struggled with his usually powerful and accurate serve, landing only 59 per cent of first serves.

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For the 116th-ranked journeyman Berankis, it was his first career win against a top-10 player. His reward is a quarter-final against Spain's fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

Raonic currently sits in the final qualifying spot for the season-ending tournament at the O2 in London, just 45 points ahead of ninth-placed David Ferrer and 95 in front of British No 1 Andy Murray, who are both in action in Vienna.

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Australian Open winner Stanislas Wawrinka have already qualified for the Tour Finals, while several players are still in contention to grab the four remaining places.

Earlier Thursday, last year's runner-up Mikhail Kukushkin knocked out fourth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4 6-2.

Third seed Ernests Gulbis did, however, safely make it through. The 26-year-old Latvian beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-3 7-6 (7/3) and will now face Italy's Andreas Seppi.

Spain's Tommy Robredo eased into the last eight with a 6-3 6-4 win over Serbia's Filip Krajinovic and there was also victory for Mikhail Youzhny, the Russian beating Juan Monaco 6-3 7-6 (8/6).

Cibulkova out

In the women's event, 2011 champion Dominika Cibulkova joined the exodus of seeds as she lost to Vitalia Diatchenko, who advanced into the last eight with a 4-6 6-2 6-2 victory in their first ever meeting.
                  
In the second set, Cibulkova, ranked 14th, suddenly produced a catalogue of unforced errors allowing the unheralded Diatchenko to break three times and draw level.
                 
Moscow resident Diatchenko, who is 140th in the world, broke twice early in the third set for a commanding 4-0 lead and kept it through to face her sixth-seeded compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat American Alison Riske 6-2 6-2.

Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova beat Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia 6-2 6-3 while Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic saw off France's Kristina Mladenovic by a 6-1 6-1 scoreline.