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Wawrinka into last eight after injured Almagro withdraws

REUTERS - Swiss third seed Stanislas Wawrinka reached the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters without hitting a ball on Thursday after his third-round opponent Nicolas Almagro withdrew injured. "I woke up this morning with a severe pain in my left foot that prevented me from even walking normally," Almagro said. "After consulting with the doctor for a long time this morning, we decided together that it was better for me not to play today." The Australian Open champion Wawrinka advances to meet eighth seed Milos Raonic after the Canadian beat 11th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-4 6-3. Raonic's victory was a routine one with the hard-hitting Canadian breaking his opponent's serve four times as he worked through his own service games without facing a break point. Local favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded ninth, shook off a mediocre start to celebrate his 29th birthday with a 5-7 6-3 6-0 victory over Italy's Fabio Fognini. After competing well for a majority of the match, the 10th-seeded Fognini lost focus and let the match slip from his grasp, winning just four points in the final set. Later on Thursday, Spanish world number one and top seed Rafael Nadal faces another Italian, Andreas Seppi while Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are also on court in third-round matches. (Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by John O'Brien/Mitch Phillips)