Canadians Raonic, Marino win at Memphis

Memphis: Canadian wild card Milos Raonic, seeking his second title in two weeks, and compatriot Rebecca Marino, seeking her first WTA final, advanced on Friday at an ATP and WTA indoor event.

Raonic, a 20-year-old whose ATP San Jose crown was the first by a Canadian in 16 years, kept his sizzling run going by firing 20 aces to beat US qualifier Robert Kendrick 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in the 1.32 million-dollar tournament. He reached a Saturday semi-final against US fourth seed Mardy Fish, who downed US fifth seed Sam Querrey 6-3, 6-4. Querrey double-faulted away a break in the fifth game of the second set and Fish held out to win in 79 minutes. Marino, the sixth seed and the lone seed to reach the last eight, outlasted Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-1 in her first WTA semi-final. She will play for the title on Saturday against Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who bounced Czech Lucie Hradecka 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.Rybarikova, 22, won her only prior WTA final in 2009 at Birmingham, defeating China’s Li Na for the title. Later men’s matches were to pit 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina against US qualifier Michael Russell and US top seed Andy Roddick, seeking his third Memphis crown, against Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt in a clash of former world number ones. Bureau Report zeezee