Raonic races into Stockholm semi-finals

Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic unleashed 14 aces as he hammered Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 6-4 to power into the semi-finals of the Stockholm Open on Friday. Raonic, ranked 29th and who underwent hip surgery after suffering an injury at Wimbledon, will next meet either French top seed Gael Monfils or in-form South African Kevin Anderson, seeded sixth. Raonic lifted his 2011 record to 30-16, including 11 indoor wins and just one loss. "I took care of everything I needed to, hitting my serve and creating opportunities," said Raonic. "The job is to take care of the serve and look for opportunities -- and I couldn't have taken care of serving any better," he said, after pounding 14 aces and hitting 34 winners in 78 minutes of power-hitting. Finland's Jarkko Nieminen kept his hopes alive as the two-time finalist won his quarter-final against German Tobias Kamke, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. Former world number 13 Nieminen ended his nine-match losing streak against Top 20 players when he defeated third seed Stanislas Wawrinka here this week. Kamke, ranked 109, went down to defeat in just over two hours. In a later match, two-time winner James Blake, trying to resurrect his career at the age of 31 after several seasons of injuries, will take on Argentine David Nalbandian.