Tennis: Berdych battles through as Raonic exits in Portugal

OEIRAS (AFP) - Top seed Tomas Berdych toughed out a battling 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over qualifier Leonardo Mayer while second seed Milos Raonic was eliminated from his quarter-final at the ATP-WTA Portugal Open on Friday.

Berdych, who only took a wild card here to get more clay matches with Roland Garos just three weeks away, almost found himself on the sidelines as he dropped the first set to his 88th-ranked Argentine opponent.

The sixth-ranked Czech survived a roller-coaster final set and will Saturday face Portugal's Gastao Elias or Romanian Victor Hanescu.

Raonic again disappointed on clay, bundled out in just under 90 minutes 7-5, 6-4 by Argentine Carlos Berlocq.

The Canadian was limited to six aces and the same number of double-faults in defeat as he lost serve four times.

"At the end of the day, I want to do much better this season on clay than I have in the past," he said. "I'm putting a lot of attention on Madrid (next week) and Paris.

"On clay, training doesn't mean a lot. You need confidence that only comes through wins."

Number 62 ranked Berlocq next plays 98th-ranked Daniel Gimeno-Traver, after the Spaniard upset third-seeded compatriot Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-2.

Berdych was stunned in the opening set by Mayer after leading with a break.

But the world number six recovered his poise in the second set despite again going down a break.

In the third, it looked like the Czech was in charge after breaking for 2-0 only to lose it a game later to the challenger despite leading 40-0.

Berdych again dropped serve in the fifth game for 2-3 but then got it back to 4-4. The seed made a final stand and emerged with a nervous victory on his second match point after two hours, nine minutes with a concluding break.

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