Melbourne, Jan 23 (IANS): World No.3 Milos Raonic secured his place in the quarter-finals for the third successive year by beating Spanish No.13 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 at the Australian Open tennis tournament here on Monday.

Raonic, who hit 75 winners - including 33 aces, won after a two hour-51 minute battle.

"I was very fortunate to get the win today - there were some moments when it wasn't looking so good," Raonic was quoted as saying by atpworldtour.com after the match.

"I was happy that I was able to find a way to pull through. And this atmosphere - especially when the roof closed, the noise stays in a little bit more, so it was great to be here. We live to see another day."

Raonic opened up a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Agut worked his way back and led 5-1 in the tie-break.

Raonic capitalised on his comeback with a service break to start the second set, but Bautista Agut found holes in the Canadian's baseline game.

Agut held three break points in the ninth game of the third set, after the match was briefly suspended due to a rain delay at 3-3, but Raonic escaped.

At 4-5, Bautista Agut double-faulted and then hit a forehand long to gift Raonic a commanding lead. Raonic then cruised to a 5-0 lead in the fourth set.