The canadian's rise

The last two times Canadian MIlos Raonic played in Tokyo, he reached the final.

No wonder he looks so relaxed.

The 23-year-old Canadian rolled into the Rakuten Japan Open quarter-finals Thursday afternoon with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Austrian lefthander Jürgen Melzer, a crafty veteran who had beaten him the only other time they met, in the final of an indoor hard-court tourament in Memphis two years ago.

This time, infinitely more experienced, Raonic had all the answers.

He started out hitting the ball supremely well. He was aggressive, but in control – especially on the backhand side, which was the side Melzer was targeting with, among other weapons, his lefty swinging serve out wide into the ad court.

Raonic's statistics were outstanding: 11 aces and no double-faults, 8-for-10 at the net, two-thirds of points won on his own second serve, and 50 per cent of points won on his opponent's second serve. He had 21 winners to 14 unforced errors. But still, it came down to a few key moments.

The first came with Melzer serving at 4-5 in a tight first set.  Raonic handled a couple of big first serves, hustled to chase down a drop shot, and got a little lucky when Melzer's lob attempt down the line was out by very little. It earned Raonic the first break point of the set, and it was set point, and Raonic won it.

Jurgen Melzer had all the answers the first time he played Milos Raonic, but couldn't find solutions Thursday in …

He jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the second, only to have Melzer break him to get right back in it. And then, at 3-4, 30-all, Melzer double faulted. Raonic put away the break he needed with one of his patented world-class inside-out forehands, and served out the match with a 227 km/h ace.

It was a calm, composed performance and Raonic even had fun with the crowd afterwards, as he batted the usual signed tennis balls into the stands for the fans.

His timing was good; about 15 minutes into the next match the rain began to fall in Tokyo, forcing a delay as they closed the retractable roof and dried the court.

When Raonic takes a look at his draw, he'll probably feel even better about things. On Friday, he will face Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals. He's 2-0 against him, with both wins coming at the indoor tournament in San Jose that Raonic won twice.

If he wins that, Raonic would play the winner between two unseeded players, Gilles Simon (2-0, with both meetings on clay) and American Steve Johnson (2-0, both outdoors on hard courts this year, with the most recent one a tight 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 victory in Cincinnati).

The only major threat standing between Raonic and the title in his third kick at the Tokyo can may well be U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori, the hometown hero who followed Raonic onto the stadium court Thursday to play American Donald Young.

There was a very nice crowd for a Thursday afternoon to see Raonic, the early arrivers for Nishikori's match. The Japanese star's impact on his home-country event cannot be understated; he sold out the 10,000-seat stadium for his second-round match Wednesday night.