Ferrer, Raonic make quarters

Stockholm - Favourites David Ferrer and Milos Raonic were made to sweat by first-time opponents to reach the Stockholm Open quarter-finals on Thursday.

Top-seeded Ferrer made the last eight in Stockholm at his third attempt when he overcame Jack Sock of the United States 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, while second-seeded Raonic was hard-pressed to finish off Joachim Johansson of Sweden, who came out of retirement at 31 and qualified here for his first pro main draw in 2½ years. Raonic won 6-2, 7-6 (3).

No 5 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia and No 7 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria also won, but No 4 Kevin Anderson of South Africa and three-time finalist Jarkko Nieminen of Finland lost their second-round matches.

In the quarter-finals, Ferrer meets Fernando Verdasco in an all-Spanish match, Raonic plays French wild card Benoit Paire, Jerzy Janowicz of Poland faces Gulbis, and Dimitrov meets Kenny De Schepper of France.