Pouille and Raonic battle into the last eight

BERLIN — France's Lucas Pouille advanced to the last eight of the ATP tournament in Stuttgart on Wednesday, surprising third seed Daniil Medvedev with a hard-fought  七- 六 ( 八/ 六),  四- 六,  六- 二 victory.

Pouille took control in the third set to battle past Medvedev and set up a quarter-final meeting with local favourite Jan-Lennard Struff who cruised to a  六- 二,  六- 二 win over Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic.

Fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, meanwhile, suffered a second round exit at the hands of Milos Raonic, losing a gruelling game  四- 六,  七- 六 ( 七/ 五),  六- 七 ( 一/ 七).

Raonic,  二 八, who missed the whole of the clay season with a knee problem, has now recorded two gruelling three-set wins in Stuttgart to reach the quarter-finals in his first ATP tour appearance since March.

Raonic will face Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the quarter-finals, after he sprang a surprise against Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili earlier on Wednesday.

The Hungarian battled to a  七- 六 ( 七/ 四),  二- 六,  五- 七 win over fourth seed Basilashvili, who sits  三 五 places above him in the world rankings.

Fucsovics has now beaten Basilashvili in three of their four meetings this season. — AFP