MASON, Ohio -- With a bothersome injury blunting his lethal serve, Canadas Milos Raonic lost his bid a second straight quarter-final appearance at a Masters 1000 event with a 7-6 (5), 6-4 loss to American John Isner Thursday at the Western & Southern Open. Coming off a trip to the finals in last weeks Rogers Cup, Raonic was treated for a pinched nerve in his neck after five games of the match, which featured an opening set lasting for almost one hour. After the on-court session, Raonic managed to carry on. Raonic admitted that his usual 210-225 kilometre-per-hour serving speed has been compromised in his recent matches due to the physical problem. "It made a few situations more difficult and it also relieved pressure on his return games," he said. "But I was able to do a lot of things well to compensate for that lack of serving ability." The loss was the second against Isner for the 12th seed from Thornhill, Ont. Raonic was also beaten by his North American rival in their only other meeting last summer in Toronto. Raonic ended a frustrating afternoon with a paltry four aces and lost his serve twice. Isner rained down 13 aces in victory. The world No. 10 will likely benefit from some rest after playing for much of the past 10 days with the US Open starting a week from Monday in New York. "I should be fine once the arm gets up to speed," Raonic said. "Im very optimistic going into the Open. "Im doing a lot of things well and getting a lot of confidence. I played great last week and played well this week." He said the shoulder issues came up early in the Rogers Cup week where he made the final against Rafael Nadal and reached a top 10 ranking for the first time. "Ill get in some training and concentrate on the physical and stay away from the tennis for a few days," te 22-year-old said. "Ill then get back onto the court as much as I can." Raonic lost the opening set in the tiebreaker between the two noted big servers, with Isner nailing it down with an ace. Isner secured a break in the penultimate game of the second set on a forehand winner to the empty court and sealed victory a point later with a service winner after 96 minutes. Elsewhere, Roger Federer overcome a rough start and emerged from his string of subpar showings since Wimbledon. He beat Tommy Haas 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 to advance to the quarter-finals. The fifth-seeded Swiss star has been struggling to get his game back in shape since he was upset at Wimbledon by a player ranked 116th in the world. Hes switched rackets and been limited by a sore back. Hes won in Cincinnati an unprecedented five times, including last year. Also Thursday, No. 1 Novak Djokovic needed only 50 minutes to beat qualifier David Goffin, 6-2, 6-0, leaving him on track for a little ATP history. Hes lost in the finals four times at Cincinnati, the only Masters series event he has yet to win. A victory would make him the first player to win all nine Masters. "I played four times finals, so its been one of the tournaments where Ive performed well," Djokovic said. "Never managed to make the final step, and hopefully this year I can do so. "I have an extra motivation and an opportunity to make history in this tournament, so Im very inspired to play well day after day." It appeared Federer wasnt long for the tournament after a stunningly bad start against Haas. The 35-year-old Haas needed only 31 minutes to win the first set and was up 4-2 in the second before Federer started to approach the net, hitting shots with confidence and taking control. He pumped his right fist after a backhand return hugged the line to set up a break point that put him up 5-3 in the final set, and again when he finished it off -- one of his few satisfying moments in months. Earlier Thursday, seventh-seeded Juan Martin del Potro earned a berth in the quarter-finals, holding off 27th-ranked Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Russian qualifier Dmitry Tursunov pulled off another upset, beating third-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4. The 44th-ranked Tursunov never lost his serve while reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in six appearances at the event. Also reaching the quarter-finals were second-seeded Andy Murray and sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych. Fourth-seeded Rafael Nadal beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in a two-hour evening match and will play Federer in the quarter-finals Friday night. Nadal has overcome an injured left knee that wiped out the end of last season and a stomach virus that affected him early this year, taking a career-best mark of 50-3 into the quarter-finals. On the womens side, second-seeded Victoria Azarenka, fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, fifth-seeded Li Na, 10th-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and 14th-seeded Jelena Jankovic advanced to the quarter-finals. Azarenka withdrew from last weeks Rogers Cup in Toronto with a lower back injury. The previous week, she lost to Samantha Stosur in the finals of the Southern California Open. Azarenka reached the quarter-finals for the first time in three appearances at the event. Last year, Djokovic lost in the finals to Federer. It was a record fifth win in Cincinnati for the 32-year-old Swiss star, who is hoping to get his game straightened out on the fast, blue centre court that has always seemed to favour him. Federer was beaten in the second round at Wimbledon by Sergiy Stakhovsky, his earliest exit from a Grand Slam event since 2003. That ended Federers streak of reaching the quarter-finals in 36 straight major tournaments. The improbable upsets were just starting. Federer lost to a 114th-ranked qualifier in the semifinals at Hamburg and was beaten by a 55th-ranked player in his opening match at Gstaad, Switzerland. There were reasons that figured in the losses: He was experimenting with a larger racket and his back was bothering him. He skipped Montreal last week to get ready for Cincinnati, hoping a good showing this week would get him ready for the U.S. Open. Jason Kidd Jersey .twitter.com/xBTpoAKLJk — Daryl Zerr (@darylzerr) May 29, 2014 @BarDown I give to you the @SquirrelsNCHL aka the Fighting Squirels. Kostas Antetokounmpo Jersey .com) - Intrastate rivals collide Saturday as the Texas State Bobcats hit the road to take on the eighth-ranked Texas Longhorns in a non-conference battle at Frank Erwin Center. http://www.cheapmavericksjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-dirk-nowitzki-jersey . -- Zach Johnson asked his short-iron approach on the par-4 18th to "Do something right, baby. Steve Nash Jersey . On the day the club activated Casey Janssen from the 15-day disabled list, his return from a strained oblique that cost him the first six weeks of the regular season, it announced Sergio Santos would be placed on the disabled list on Monday with discomfort in his right forearm. Luka Doncic Jersey . Less than 24 hours after the Wolves lost at home to the Mavericks, 100-98, NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn announced Tuesday that Kevin Love was fouled on his right arm by Shawn Marion in the closing seconds and should have been awarded two free throws.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, I am sure you will get a ton of emails on this one. Last night, the Kings went up 2-1 on the Sharks around eight minutes remaining. My question with this goal - Is Justin Williams allowed to hit the goalie with his stick? Cant this be considered goalie interference? I am a Ducks fan waiting to see my next opponent. I really think the Sharks were cheated here. The NHL says this type of play is non-reviewable. This excuse just seems like an easy way out from a judgment call. Thanks,Jake Kevari Jake: The L.A. Kings greasy second goal should have been disallowed by referee Chris Lee as per rule 69.6 when Justin Williams used his stick to push Alex Stalock, set in a statuesque pose, that resulted in both the puck and the toe of Stalocks left skate to cross the goal line into the net. It appeared that the referee was purely focused on the puck that became partially visible under the left skate of Alex Stalock after the goalie made the initial save. If referee Lee taken had taken into account the action of Justin Williams pushing Stalock from the front of the goal crease with his hockey stick or subsequently had the opportunity to utilize video review I would hope that a different decision on the play would have been rendered. Many fans who follow me on twitter @kfraserthecall (Kings Fans perhaps?) could not comprehend that the action of Justin Williams pushing Alex Stalock with his stick became a goalie interference violation. Language contained in Rule 69 defines contact, whether incidental or otherwise, to mean any contact that is made between or among a goalkeeper and attacking player(s), whether by means of a stick or any part of the body. Some had even more difficulty accepting that Rule 69.6 applied on this play since Stalock was not knocked completely into the back of the net. Rule 69.6 reads; "In the event that a goalkeeper has been pushed into the net together with the puck by an attacking player after making a stop, the goal will be disallowed." To simplify this play, Alex Stalock made an initial save on his knees wheen Robin Regehr shot the puck from the top left side faceoff circle.dddddddddddd Stalocks lower body remained stationary inside the top right side of his goal crease after the puck was gobbled up in his pads. Referee Chris Lee attacked the net straddling the goal line with the whistle in a ready position near his mouth demonstrating some intent to blow the whistle and kill the play; that is until he saw the puck peek out from under Stalocks left skate blade and pad. The refs body posture and head position indicates that he was intently focused on the puck from this moment forward. Freeze frame that visual picture in your mind for a second! If in this moment, Justin Williams dove or crashed into Alex Stalock resulting in the puck entering the net, I would think most everyone would agree that "goalie interference" had been committed and the referee should disallow the goal. The exact same illegal outcome was achieved when Justin Williams used his hockey stick to push Stalock within his goal crease and off his set-stationary position which caused both the puck and the goalies left skate to cross the goal line and enter the net as demonstrated by the overhead net-cam shot. To disallow the goal under Rule 69.6 would be purely academic at this point had the referee been focused more on the action taking place at the front of the net as opposed to the puck. Ideally, the whistle (or intent to blow the whistle) should have been exercised once Justin Williams began pushing Alex Stalock with his stick, if not before! Jake, video review can only be utilized in eight specific situations as listed in Rule 38.4. At the present time interference on the goalkeeper is not one of them. I have continually stated that referees must have the ability to review their initial decision whenever contact with the goalkeeper is in question. This should be initiated by the officials on the ice, the video goal judge or through a coachs challenge. However the review is initiated, I strongly recommend that a referee(s) makes the final call after personally reviewing the play in question on a monitor in the timekeepers box. Look for expanded use of video review in some form next season. We can only hope they get it right. 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