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Tennis-Raonic sent packing by Spaniard Ramos-Vinolas

By Martyn Herman PARIS (Reuters) - Subdued eighth seed Milos Raonic's French Open came to an abrupt halt when he was swept aside 6-2 6-4 6-4 by Spanish claycourter Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the fourth round on Sunday. The big-serving Canadian could make little impression against the dogged, 28-year-old left-hander who finished the contest with an angled smash on his third match point. "I had a simple task out there to try to find a way to win and I wasn't able to find that today," the 25-year-old Raonic, who dropped serve five times, told a news conference. "I gave myself opportunities on his serve, but the day is a lot easier for the other guy when I don't serve well." Ramos-Vinolas will play either defending champion Stan Wawrinka or Viktor Troicki in his first grand slam quarter-final, having never been past the second round in his 18 appearances in the four majors. "I lost I think four times in a row in the first round here, now this year quarter-finals for the moment. So I'm really, really happy," Barcelona-born Ramos-Vinolas said. "I think the weather helped today, because it slowed down his service a bit." The warning signs were there for Raonic when he dropped serve in the third game of the match under grey skies on Court Suzanne Lenglen and he effectively surrendered the opener when he was broken again at 1-3. Raonic, who afterwards played down any lingering effects of the hip injury that bothered him against Andrej Martin in the third round, dropped serve again at 4-4 in the second set and Ramos-Vinolas duly held to take a two-set lead. The third set went with serve until Raonic netted a forehand to give his opponent the chance to serve for the match. There was a glimmer of hope for Raonic when he had a point to make it 5-5, but Ramos-Vinolas refused to be denied a second career win against a top-10 player, served an ace to bring up match point and coolly sealed victory. "I think this tournament in general I played definitely way too passive and I let the other guys dictate too much," Raonic said. "I counted on sort of scrapping and fighting to get myself through, which was enough, but it wasn't enough today." He will now turn his attention to the grasscourt season where he will spend three weeks working with seven-times grand slam champion John McEnroe. (Editing by Clare Fallon)