It’s the biggest upset of the tournament so far on either the men’s or women’s side, No. 5 Raonic seeded to meet Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals.
Harrison will take on another resurgent player in Marcos Baghdatis, the 2007 Australian Open finalist, in the third round. Baghdatis took out No. 32 seed Benoit Paire of France Wednesday.
After Raonic won a close-as-can-be first set, Harrison couldn’t close out the second having served for it at 5-3 up. He got another chance when he hit a forehand winner in game 12, wrapping up the set on a backhand volley miss from the Canadian for set two, 7-5 to Harrison.
Harrison would win set three in similar fashion, 7-5, as Raonic committed another unforced error into the net. He was clearly hobbled at this point, Raonic merely going through the motions in set four as he struggled with his movement and shot-making. He would receive treatment on both his wrist and left side in the third set, to no apparent avail.
Harrison would explode with joy upon the win, nonetheless, the American crowd gathering inside the new Grandstand to greet him with a roar of approval.
Raonic would hit 69 winners to Harrison’s 48, but 62 unforced errors to just 33 for his winning opponent. Harrison won 74 percent of points on an improved first serve, while breaking the big-serving Raonic seven times in the match.
“This is the tournament you dream of growing up,” Harrison said on court after the win. “This has been a really special year. I’ll never forget it.”
“I’m excited that emotionally and from an execution standpoint I was able to put enough in play and be aggressive enough to take the win,” Harrison reasoned later with reporters.
Raonic, on the other hand, said that stress and anxiety contributed to the cramping he suffered from.
“I didn’t create this pressure for myself or this kind of stress on myself,” Raonic said. “He did that.”
