Washington: Czech top seed Tomas Berdych was ousted from the ATP and WTA Washington Open on Thursday, falling 6-2, 6-4 to Canada’s Vasek Pospisil in a third-round match.

Pospisil, who at 36th in the rankings was 31 spots beneath Berdych, collected his third career victory over a top-10 foe, his first coming over Berdych nearly a year ago in the round of 16 at Canada.

“That was not one of my best,” Berdych said. “It’s something that needs to be dealt with and go on. I need to move on and work even harder.”

In the quarter-finals for the second week in a row at a US Open hardcourt warm-up event, Pospisil will face Santiago Giraldo, who beat Victor Estrella Burgos 6-2, 6-0.

“It was a huge win for me,” Pospisil said. “Beating [Berdych] last year gave me a little more confidence.”

Pospisil, who joined American Jack Sock in winning the Wimbledon doubles crown, seeks his second semi-final of the season after a back injury contributed to his going winless in eight matches from February to May.

“If I’m serving well and moving well, I know I can give these guys a lot of trouble,” Pospisil said.

Wimbledon semi-finalist Milos Raonic fired 27 aces in a 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3) victory over Australian Lleyton Hewitt that put the second-seeded Canadian in the quarter-finals.

“I did a lot of good things, especially the way I fought through the important games,” Raonic said. “In those key moments, my attitude got me through.”

Raonic, who also won his opener over Sock in two tiebreakers, will face US giant-killer Steve Johnson for a spot in the last four.

Johnson dumped ATP aces leader Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (9/7) despite 27 aces by the Croatian ninth seed. A day earlier he beat US fifth seed John Isner, who ranks second in aces and fired 29 past Johnson.

“He couldn’t have had any better preparation to face me,” said Raonic, who ranks third in ATP aces. “It’s going to be very difficult.

“Compared to the previous two he got, I think I control the centre of the court and move a little better. Hopefully that will get me through.”

In each win, Johnson benefited from a double fault by his rival on the penultimate point to win a third-set tiebreaker.

“I can learn a lot from a match like this and take it into the next match,” Johnson said.

Japanese fourth seed Kei Nishikori and French sixth seed Richard Gasquet, the top men’s seeds remaining after Raonic, will meet in another quarter-final.

Nishikori dispatched Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, after being pushed to three sets for a second straight day.

Gasquet doing OK

Gasquet, coming off a right arm injury that saw him withdraw last week at Atlanta, beat American Tim Smyczek 6-3, 6-2.

“I couldn’t even serve a ball,” Gasquet said. “For three days I didn’t serve. Now I’m very sound. I feel no pain. It feels fine.”

South African seventh seed Kevin Anderson downed Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri 6-3, 6-4. He next plays US left-hander Donald Young, who outlasted Uzbek Denis Istomin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Young is on a three-match win streak for the first time since a run to his only ATP final in 2011 at Bangkok, where he lost to Britain’s Andy Murray.

“I’m excited about it,” Young said. “I had to fight some nerves. I’m happy to get through. It’s a big win for me.”

Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the top remaining women’s seeds, will meet in a quarter-final.

Second-seeded Makarova beat American Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-4 and fifth-seeded Pavlyuchenkova defeated Japanese qualifier Hiroko Kuwata 6-3, 6-3.

Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, twice a Grand Slam champion, ousted Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 7-5 to book a last-eight date with American Vania King.

Meanwhile, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams ousted fourth-seeded birthday girl Victoria Azarenka in straight sets Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the WTA hardcourt tournament at Stanford.

The 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) triumph kept Williams on course for a possible semi-final showdown with her sister Serena, the world number one and top seed who will take on Ana Ivanovic in the quarter-finals on Friday.

“Williams-Williams tomorrow, hopefully,” Venus told the crowd at the campus of Stanford University, where she came out on top in a hard-fought, physical duel with Azarenka that lasted an hour and 42 minutes.

“It’s never easy to play Victoria. We’ve always had extremely tough matches, so I expected that tonight as well,” said Williams, who acknowledged that Azarenka may have been at a disadvantage after having a first-round bye.

That meant the match was the Belarussian’s first since her second-round exit at Wimbledon.

It was a disappointing result on her 25th birthday for Azarenka, who came into the week ranked 10th in the world but needed to reach the semi-finals to stay in the top 10.

A left foot injury sidelined her for three months this year before she returned to action at the Wimbledon tune-up event at Eastbourne.

The former world number one, who owns two Australian Open titles, didn’t go quietly.

She gamely fought off two match points in the 12th game of the second set to force the tiebreaker, but from there it was all Williams.

The 34-year-old American won the first point of the tiebreaker on her own serve, then fired two forehand winners to take the next two points on Azarenka’s serve and never looked back.

Azarenka double faulted to give Williams a 6-1 lead, and the American held on to win the next point — firing over a running forehand that Azarenka could only belt back into the net.

Williams had come on strong late in the opening set as well, sealing the frame with a service break in the final game.

Williams next faces eighth-seeded German Andrea Petkovic, who booked her quarter-final berth on Wednesday.

Earlier Thursday, fifth-seeded Ivanovic cruised past Canadian qualifier 6-1, 6-1 in just 54 minutes to book her third meeting this year with Serena Williams.

Ivanovic, a former world number one herself, downed the American at the Australian Open, a defeat that Serena avenged in Rome.

The two have never played each other this many times in one season.

“It’s a good sign,” Ivanovic said. “It means we’re getting further into the tournaments to play each other.”

In other matches on Thursday, third-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany got past American Coco Vandeweghe 7-6 (7/4), 0-6, 6-2 to book a quarter-final with rising Spanish talent Garbine Muguruza — a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-4.