MOSCOW -- Top-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada was eliminated in his first match at the Kremlin Cup on Thursday, losing 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis.
Raonic had a bye into the second round, and the loss puts him in danger of failing to qualify for next month's ATP tour finals in London. He blamed the defeat on illness.
"I was sick for the last 10 days, so I was in bed the whole time and I only was able to prepare the last two days," he said.
Raonic, who currently holds the eighth and last qualifying place for the tour finals, said "there's not really that much of a heartbreak" in exiting Moscow so early, since more points are on offer when the Paris Masters starts later this month.
Playing with his right arm in strapping, the ninth-ranked Canadian struggled with his usually powerful and accurate serve, landing only 59 percent of first serves.
For the 116th-ranked Berankis, it was his first career win against a top-10 player. His reward is a quarterfinal against Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut, seeded fifth.
Earlier Thursday, last year's runner-up Mikhail Kukushkin knocked out fourth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4, 6-2. He next plays either seventh-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who was the 2009 champion in Moscow, or Argentina's Juan Monaco.
Spain's Tommy Robredo, seeded sixth, progressed to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbia's Filip Krajinovic. Robredo meets US Open champion Marin Cilic, who is seeded second.