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Britain's Andy Murray returns the ball during his men's singles semifinal match against David Ferrer of Spain at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 8, 2016. Andy Murray won 2-0. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)
By Spencer Musick
BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The biggest shocker of day 8 at the China Open actually came from off-court, as Canadian third seed Milos Raonic announced that he will retire from the tournament due to a right ankle injury sustained in his match yesterday with Spaniard Pablo Carrerno Busta.
Raonic said that he sustained the injury in the third game of the match, "rolling over" his ankle and causing a sprain.
"I did a test this morning when showed I had a partial tear on the outside of my ankle. I was told to give it a try. I tried to warm up just before the match like I would normally, and I was unable to play," he said.
Raonic still intends to travel to Shanghai for the upcoming Masters, where he says a bye will allow him to get a later start and with it, several days of time to recover.
Raonic's retirement means that Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov will face Britain's Andy Murray in the men's finals tomorrow, who bested Spaniard David Ferrer in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
Murray recorded his seventh straight win over Ferrer and improved to a 14-6 lead in their head to head series as he defeated the Spaniard in one hour and 31 minutes.
"I did well," said Murray. "I was obviously 2-1 down with a break in the first set. I played very well. Even the period in the second set where he came back a bit, when he broke me, there was a lot of long points. Really good tennis I thought.
Murray added that he expects a tough battle with Dimitrov in the final.
"Obviously he's got high ambitions, I'm sure. The last few months, he's done well. He had obviously a very good win against Rafa yesterday. It will be a hard match," Murray said.
Eleventh-seed Johanna Konta of Britain has booked a spot int he finals, overtaking Madison Keys of the United States in a highly contested 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4 match.
It was a remarkably well-matched paring between the two, with both players saving an equal number of break points in the first set.
Keys' strong forehand gave her the momentum several times in the first set, but in the end the American was unable to match Konta's strength on return.
Keys then returned, however, to take the second set 6-4.
Konta noted that the match tilted toward her American opponent at that point.
"Yeah, definitely the momentum shifted in her favor, for sure. I think she also played two good games. I think I dropped my level a bit," Konta said.
Konta said she was determined to keep pushing her opponent even with she was falling behind.
"It was definitely important for me to, yeah, keep pushing on even though it was 5-2. There wasn't much in it for it to go back to 5-all," she said.
Konta regained control in the third set, winning 73 percent of her points on the first service.
Konta goes on to meet 3rd-seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the final, who bested No. 16 Elina Svitolina 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Radwanska had a few hiccups in the first set, falling a break behind her opponent twice and allowing Svitolina to bring it to a tiebreak.
But Radwanska stormed to a 5-point lead in the tiebreaker, and had control of the match thereafter, taking the second set with ease in just 45 minutes.
Final matches get underway tomorrow at 12 pm Beijing time, starting with women' s and men's doubles. The women's singles final is on tap for around 4:30 pm Beijing time, with the men's singles final to follow.
