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Andy Murray

In the players' lounge just before Andy Murray's withdrawal from the Rogers Cup became official, Milos Raonic bumped into the men's Olympic tennis champion, whom he was scheduled to play in Thursday night's featured match.

The irony was not lost on either player. In March, after spraining his ankle in the warm-up of a doubles match at the Sony Ericsson tournament in Miami, Raonic had to withdraw in the round of 32, giving Murray a walkover. Five months later, Murray returned the favour.

"I sort of asked him, is he going to be okay and everything," Raonic said. "I guess we made a joke because I pulled out earlier to him in Miami this year, so it was joke about that. I just wished him that he gets healthy quick, because he's been playing really well lately."

Murray injured his left knee during Wednesday's straight-sets victory over Italian qualifier Flavio Cipolla, and when it didn't get better overnight, he decided to pull out rather than risk further injury. It permits Raonic to move on to the quarter-final of a Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career, where he will play either No. 8 John Isner of the United States or No. 12 Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the next round.

Considering that Raonic didn't play this event last year while recovering from hip surgery, it means he's piling up the ranking points – 180 and counting – heading into the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam of the season.

Raonic didn't want to discuss his next match except in the most general terms, but the possibility of a first-career meeting with the 6-foot-9 Isner represents a tantalizing development for a tournament that could use some good news.

Isner made it to the Olympic quarter-finals before losing to top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland. Isner and Raonic rank 1-2 on the ATP tour in total aces, and both possess booming serves, which gives them lots of free points. If they do meet, it'll be a matter of who gets his return game going – and Raonic was good there in his victory over Viktor Troicki in the previous round.

"My job is to take care of my serve and try to make the most of the return games," Raonic said. "I feel like I'm returning a lot better. I felt like even on the grass at the Olympics I returned much better. Coming into here, the first round, I felt like I was able to get into more points, so I feel like I'm just improving on that aspect of my game."

Raonic became the first player to advance to the quarter-finals. The rest of the tournament was on hold because of a lengthy rain delay Thursday. Even heavier rains are in the forecast for Friday, which could play havoc with the tournament schedule and push the final back to Monday.

Waiting 101 is not a skill taught at the National Tennis Centre or the Bollettieri Academy, even though it is a frequent fact of life on the ATP tour. Raonic suggested that it's something players just get used to.

"Here I'm fortunate that I live 10 minutes away," Raonic said. "I could have gone home throughout the day. I'm not fortunate 95 per cent of the other weeks.

"Last year I was very unlucky, I had a six-hour rain delay at Wimbledon, went out, played well, tore my hip when I slipped after three games. Probably wasn't most enjoyable rain delay, but it's a rain delay. It's part of the sport. Nobody likes them, but everybody deals with them."

Murray said he apologized to tournament director Karl Hale for withdrawing and wished Raonic luck.

Had they played, Murray said: "I think it would have been a fun match. I hope he has a good tournament. Be great for him to go deep in this tournament here for the first time."

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