Early exit for Raonic in Australia

Milos Raonic has slumped to his earliest exit at a Grand Slam since 2011, losing in the first round at the Australian Open to Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Tuesday.

The Canadian is coming off an injury-filled season that saw his ranking drop to No. 24 from a career-high of No. 3 in 2016.

Raonic missed last year’s U.S. Open after having wrist surgery. He returned to the tour for one tournament in Japan in October, but retired from his quarter-final match. He has been among the most vocal proponents for shortening the nearly year-long tennis schedule to protect top players from injury.

Raonic is a former Wimbledon finalist and has reached at least the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park the last three years.

Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova marked her return to the Australian Open with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Germany’s Tatjana Maria in the first round. Sharapova, now ranked 48th, won the tournament in 2008 and has reached the final on three other occasions.

On Monday, Canadian Denis Shapovalov advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas. Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil dropped a 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5) decision to sixth-seeded Marin Cilic.

Shapovalov, ranked No. 50, will face 15th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. Shapovalov beat the 32-year-old Tsonga in their only meeting, at the U.S. Open last summer.

Meanwhile, Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens were upset in another bad day for U.S. tennis on Monday. Williams lost to Belinda Bencic 6-3, 7-5, while U.S. Open champion Stephens fell 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2 to Zhang Shuai.