Sock, Isner and Raonic out of Delray as rain halts Cilic-Monfils Rio nail-biter

Jack Sock, John Isner and Milos Raonic were dumped out of the Delray Beach Open, while Marin Cilic’s Rio Open clash with Gael Monfils was left on a knife edge when rain halted play.

In a stunning upset top seed Sock was ejected by wildcard fellow American Reilly Opelka, a 6ft 11in 20-year-old who is 200 places below him in the ATP rankings.

Opelka hit 17 aces and fought back from defeat in the first set to finish off the defending champion 4-6 7-5 6-3 and secure a quarter-final showdown with Peter Gojowczyk.

In his own upset, the German defeated number six seed Isner 7-6 (7/3) 6-7 (4/7) 7-6 (7/5) despite the American firing off 30 aces during the two-and-a half-hour match.

Canadian former world number three Raonic, who won for the first time in 2018 in round one, was eliminated by American Steve Johnson 6-2 6-4.

The ninth seed, Raonic struggled with injury during 2017 and has only won two tour-level matches in six months.

Johnson progresses to meet Russia’s Evgeny Donskoy, who saw off American Donald Young 7-6 (8/6) 6-3.

In Rio, rain on the clay court forced the suspension of Cilic and Monfils’ second round match with the second set tie-break level at 7-7.

The Frenchman was leading Cilic, the top-seeded player in the tournament, 6-3 6-6.

In other matches number four seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas was beaten by Nicolas Jarry 7-5 6-3, while number six seed Diego Schwartzman won his second-round match against fellow Argentinian Federico Delbonis 6-2 6-3.

Earlier in Marseille French duo Lucas Pouille and Julien Benneteau reached the quarter-finals of the Open 13 Provence.

Third seed Pouille, the runner-up to compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 12 months ago, survived a testing encounter with another French player, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, winning 3-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-4.

Benneteau, playing in his final season, had another moment to savour in front of his home fans as he defeated fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (7/2) 7-6 (7/5).

There was another miraculous comeback from seventh seed Damir Dzumhur, who eventually defeated Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (9/7) 7-6 (7/5).

Dzumhur saved four match points in his first-round win over Mikhail Kukushkin and on Wednesday recovered from 0-5 in the third-set tie-break, winning the final seven points.

Nicolas Mahut made it three French winners in a day with a 7-5 7-6 (7/4) victory over young Greek Stefanis Tsitsipas in the first round while there were also wins for Gilles Muller and Mischa Zverev.