Raonic rides powerful serve to Brisbane International quarter-finals

Canada's Milos Raonic advanced to the quarter-finals at the Brisbane International on Wednesday by downing Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-3, 7-6 (2).

The 28-year-old Raonic will face fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia in the quarters.

Raonic recorded a mini break on Kecmanovic's first serve in the second-set tiebreak, then did that again twice more to go up 6-2 and 7-2 to win the match.

The Thornhill, Ont., product and former world No. 3 is starting the 2019 tennis season ranked No. 18 in the world after battling injuries over the last two years.

Raonic, Canada's top-ranked player, has done well in Brisbane in the past. He captured the title there in 2016 after stunning Swiss superstar Roger Federer in the final and was a runner-up at the event in 2015. He also reached the semifinals twice.

Overpowering

Raonic downed Aljaz Bedene 6-0 6-3 in the first round on Monday to advance to the Wednesday's second-round matchup at the ATP 250 event.

Wednesday's match was the first career meeting between Raonic and his 131st-ranked opponent.

He overpowered the 19-year-old Kecmanovic with his powerful serve in a quick first set that lasted just 27 minutes, firing seven aces and winning 13-of-18 first-service points.

Raonic broke Kecmanovic to go up 4-2 in the first set and easily held on from there.

The Canadian had 21 aces in total to Kecmanovic's three.

Raonic is 0-1 against Medvedev, losing in Tokyo on a hard court last year.

Murray ousted, Nadal withdraws

In other action Tuesday, Andy Murray lost his second-round match less than an hour after Rafael Nadal withdrew from the tournament.

Both players arrived in Australia after long injury breaks, and neither had played a competitive match since September.

As you play up the levels ... if you're not serving as well or if you're not moving as well, the better players exploit that.— 3-time major champion Andy Murray after his 2nd-round loss

At least Murray completed two matches. Playing on a protected ranking after an injury-interrupted 18 months, he beat James Duckworth before losing to fourth-seeded Medvedev 7-5, 6-2. There were signs in both matches that he is still bothered by the hip problem which has derailed his last two seasons.

Defending women's champion Elina Svitolina also went out in the second round, losing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in the last match of the day.

Murray, a three-time major champion, recovered a service break in the first set and was in the match at 5-5 until Medvedev won six straight games.

"As you play up the levels, whether it's issues with your game, like if you're not serving as well or if you're not moving as well, the better players exploit that," Murray said. "He is a top player and is able to do that. I need to try and find a way of working out how to get around some of the things I struggle with a little bit now."

'My hope is to win the Australian Open'

The second-ranked Nadal had a first-round bye but withdrew on the eve of his scheduled second-round match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after having an MRI on a muscle strain in his left thigh.

Nadal said he'd head to Melbourne after a brief stopover in Sydney for a Fast4 event to prepare for the Australian Open. The 32-year-old Spaniard is hoping he can still win the season's first major, which starts on Jan. 14, despite his lack of match preparation.

"My hope is to win the Australian Open," he said. "And being honest, I feel myself playing well. I feel myself playing at a good level of tennis. And I feel myself with very high motivation to compete and to play."

Nadal had an MRI and said medical experts in Australia and Spain told him that playing competitively this week would heighten his risk of a more serious injury.

"I tried to play and I still wanted to play but the two doctors from here and the doctors from my confederation in Spain tell me … if I play here, there is a risk to don't have the chance to play Melbourne," Nadal said. "Everybody is telling me that it's not a good idea to increase the possibility to make the strain a bigger problem.

"I feel that I can give a good level of tennis, but I can't do my 100 percent. So if I don't play here, I probably secure that I'm going to be 100 percent ready for Melbourne."

Also exiting the men's draw on Wednesday where defending champion Nick Kyrgios, who lost to Jeremy Chardy 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3, and third-seeded Kyle Edmund, who lost to Japanese qualifier Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-6 (6), 6-4.

Second-seeded Kei Nishikori beat and 2017 champion Grigor Dimitrov had straight-set wins earlier to set up a quarterfinal showdown -- a rematch of their final in 2017. Also advancing were fifth-seeded Milos Raonic and seventh-seeded Alex De Minaur.

Top-10 seeds eliminated

Anett Kontaveit beat fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova 7-5, 7-6 (1) to reach the women's quarter-finals, and Anastasija Sevastova advanced to a quarter-final match against U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka.

Fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova had a 7-5, 6-2 win over Marie Bouzkova and will next meet Ajla Tomljanovic, who beat Johanna Konta 6-2, 7-6 (2). Donna Vekic ousted No. 6 Kiki Bertens 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-5 and will take on Sasnovich in the quarter-finals.

The absence of Nadal, who was replaced in the draw by Taro Daniel, and Murray puts more focus on the Nishikori-Dimitrov quarter-final match. Nishikori opened his year with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Denis Kudla.

The sixth-seeded Dimitrov, who beat Nishikori in the 2017 final here, had to withstand a late comeback from John Millman before winning 6-3, 6-4. He's using the quarterfinal match as a barometer for where his preparations stand for the Australian Open.