Raonic stunned by qualifier

Unheralded American qualifier Ryan Harrison has scored the upset of the US Open, defeating Canadian fifth seed Milos Raonic in the second round.

The 24-year-old Harrison, who was considered a huge talent as a teenager, is now through to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career after the 6-7(4) 7-5 7-5 6-1 victory.

The American world No.120 blunted the Raonic serve throughout the match, winning seven of 18 break points as the Canadian struggled with his game, his body and the intense heat in New York.

“I’m excited to keep moving forward,” Harrison said during an on-court interview at the tournament’s new Grandstand stadium, telling the partisan crowd: “Anything’s possible when I have your support.”

And while he was certainly helped by the crowd, Harrison was also helped by the ailing Raonic.

Raonic received repeated visits from a trainer, who worked first on the Canadian’s wrist, then massaged his leg.

Harrison also played cleanly, recovering from a double-fault that ceded the opening set to outlast Raonic.

He wound up with 33 unforced errors, making merely one in the final set, Raonic’s total was 62, including a whopping 21 in the third set alone.

After Harrison hit a cross-court forehand passing winner to break for a 5-1 lead in the fourth set, Raonic looked exhausted, resting both arms on his knees behind the baseline and leaning on his racket for extra support.

Harrison will now play Cypriot veteran Marcos Baghdatis in the third round after Baghdatis himself caused a boilover, beating French 32nd seed Benoit Paire 6-2 6-4 3-6 6-4.

Harrison wasn’t the only American to see success on day three of the tournament, 20th seed John Isner won through 6-3 6-4 6-7(10) 6-3 over Belgian Steve Darcis.

More impressive was 26th seed Jack Sock, who cruised into the third round with a 90-minute 6-1 6-1 6-2 rout of German Mischa Zverev.

Sock will meet 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic, the Croatian was similarly impressive in his second round, smashing Ukrainian veteran Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1 6-2 6-3.