Tennis: Raonic routs Murray in Barcelona

BARCELONA: Canadian Milos Raonic handed second seed Andy Murray a claycourt humiliation as the big-hitting youngster hammered the Scot 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) to reach the semi-finals.

Raonic, ranked 25th, will be playing in his second career clay semi-final on Saturday against third seed David Ferrer who reached the last four for a sixth consecutive year by beating compatriot Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (9/7), 6-3.

Murray was to have been Raonic's opponent in Miami last month, but the Canadian had to withdraw injured before that hardcourt showdown.

With the scene shifted to clay, the momentum went with the Canadian as he took the biggest scalp of his fast-rising career in just under one and three-quarter hours at the Real Club de Tenis.

Murray, a Monte Carlo quarter-finalist who admitted that he's had a difficult time trying to make the change from hardcourt to clay, praised Raonic's big game.

Raonic, winner of two titles this season on indoor hardcourt, where his huge game is always a threat, showed that he's getting comfortable on the dirt as he fired 14 aces in victory.

His only other last-four spot on clay came a year ago in Estoril, when he lost to Verdasco.

Raonic, who lost in the Monte Carlo first round, backed up his defeat of Spanish clay specialist Nicolas Almagro in the third round.

The Canadian ended Murray's best run in Barcelona, where he has claimed only a single match win in three previous appearances.

Raonic won the first set thanks to one break of serve and stayed steady well into the second.

The Canadian broke for a 4-3 lead but was unable to close out victory immediately as Murray got the break back in the 10th game for five-apiece.

As the set went to a tiebreaker, Raonic's huge serve came to bear, with the 11th-seeded Canadian taking a 3-0 lead. He earned five match points, with Murray saving two before sending a weak backhand into the net.

Raonic converted on two of five break points while Murray missed on three of his break chances.

Murray had dropped just eight games in his first two matches in Barcelona, where he trained as a teenager and where Raonic has a base to train with Spanish coach Galo Blanco. (AFP)