DENNIS PASSA
AP Sports Writer
LONDON (AP) — Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard did their best Saturday to get the Canada Day celebrations started early at Wimbledon.
Raonic and Bouchard advanced to the fourth round, setting up Monday matches a day ahead of their July 1 national holiday.
Raonic became the first Canadian to advance to the final 16 in the Open era at Wimbledon since Daniel Nestor in 1999 with a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
Bouchard, the first Canadian woman since Patricia Hy-Boulais in 1996-97 to play in the fourth round, beat Germany’s Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-4.
Eighth-seeded Raonic and 13th-seeded Bouchard played simultaneously, and had to endure about a 4 1/2-hour rain delay.
Bouchard, who is the only woman this year to have advanced to the semifinals of both Grand Slam tournaments, got a bit of a break when Alize Cornet beat top-seeded Serena Williams on Saturday. So Bouchard will now play the Frenchwoman in the fourth round.
“I think Alize Cornet is playing good tennis … to beat the No. 1 player in the world is no easy feat,” Bouchard said.
The two have met just once — on clay last year at Strasbourg when Cornet won 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
“I don’t know if I’m going to think too much about that match or not,” Bouchard said. “She likes to be aggressive. I’m going to talk to my coach about a few tactical things, but other than that focus on my side of the net because that’s when I play my best.”
Cornet was still buzzing about her win over Williams to think too much about Bouchard.
“Sorry, guys, I want to enjoy my victory for tonight,” Cornet said. “I know the next one is going to be very tough because Eugenie is playing amazing already since last year. She’s one of the top players of this season.”
Raonic doesn’t know who he’ll play next — the third-round match Saturday between Kei Nishikori of Japan and Simone Bolelli of Italy was suspended by darkness Saturday at 3-3 in the fifth set.
“They actually play similar,” Raonic said. “I struggled with Kei in the past. Also the one time I played Bolelli I struggled as well, but I was able to get a win. Both will be very difficult matches.”
The big-serving Canadian is one of only three players — Andy Murray and Roger Federer are the others — to have not dropped a set through three rounds.
“I think each time around I’m getting better on it,” Raonic said of the grass surface. “So this time I think I’m feeling pretty comfortable … feel like this year I’ve made pretty significant progress on this surface.”
Raonic was feeling comfortable enough during the lengthy rain delay that he took a nap in the massage room so he could “stay calm and wait it out.”
Bouchard also took the delay in stride.
“The rain is part of the Wimbledon experience,” she said. “I think we’ve been lucky so far with it.”
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