Home hero Milos Raonic packed off

Milos Raonic couldn’t hide his disappointment.

The fourth-seeded Canadian used the word repeatedly when answering questions after a 6-4, 6-4 loss to France’s Gael Monfils on Friday night in the Rogers Cup quarter-finals.

“Disappointment is the right word,” Raonic said. “In tennis, unless you’re the guy winning the tournaments most of the weeks, which there’s very few guys that are doing that, you’re losing quite a bit. So it’s very important to make the most of those, try to learn, try to be better from those situations. That’s my next objective.”

The 10th-seeded Monfils will face top-ranked Novak Djokovic on Saturday at York University’s Aviva Centre. Djokovic beat fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 6-4.

In the other quarter-finals, second-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland topped South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-1, 6-3, and third-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan beat Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Raonic had the crowd’s full support, with the chair umpire repeatedly having to ask the fans to quiet down. Even still, fans would call out “Let’s go Milos!” or chant MI-LOS RAO-NIC clap, clap, clap-clap-clap after every game and most points. The boisterous crowd helped Monfils as well, though. He said before the match that he always loves a packed stadium, even if the fans aren’t supporting him. “I play Davis Cup outside (of France),” Monfils said. “It’s the same feeling, you know, either way. I think I’m a guy always pumped up. Any energy, I take it. Even if it’s for me or not for me, I take it,” he said.