Paire upsets Raonic to reach Stockholm semis

Stockholm: French wild-card entry Benoit Paire beat second-seeded Milos Raonic 7-6 (3), 6-3 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Stockholm Open.

Paire will face seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday after the Bulgarian beat left-handed Kenny De Schepper of France 6-4, 6-2.

Top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain also advanced when his quarter-final opponent, countryman Fernando Verdasco, pulled out because of an abdominal injury.

Ferrer will face fifth-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who had more of a struggle as he advanced with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win over Jerzy Janowicz of Poland in little over 2 hours.