18-year-old Canadian advances to 2nd round of Australian Open
Canadian Milos Raonic stunned in first round of Australian Open by Lukas Lacko
MELBOURNE, Australia — Canadian Milos Raonic is out at the Australian Open.
The 22nd seed in the men’s tournament, Raonic was stunned by unseeded Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Tuesday in the first round of the Grand Slam event.
The Thornhill, Ont., product 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 undergoing wrist surgery. He returned to the tour for one tournament in Japan in October, but retired from his quarterfinal 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 quarterfinals at Melbourne Park the last three years.
It’s only the third time that Raonic has lost in the first round of a major. Raonic also lost in the first round of the 2010 US Open and the 2011 French Open.
Canadian Denis Shapovalov advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.
It’s the first main-draw win at the Australian Open for the 18-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont.
Shapovalov won 57 per cent of his first service points and converted on 5-of-8 break points. He also had nine aces and 33 winners.
“I think I played extremely well today,” Shapovalov said. “I felt from the warmup that I was feeling the ball really clean and I was able to get the lead right from the start. I thought maybe he would start off tight and that’s what happened and I was able to maintain it really well.”
Shapovalov rocketed up the ATP standings last year, starting at No. 250 and reaching a career-best No. 49 over the summer.
He reached the semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal in August, becoming the youngest semifinalist at a Masters 1,000 event, then followed that up by reaching the fourth round of the U.S. Open.
Shapovalov said that experience may have helped him against the 82nd-ranked Tsitsipas.
“Maybe I have a little more experience. I went deeper in the Grand Slam in New York and I was bringing back a couple old memories playing the few Grand Slams that I have,” he said.
“But definitely I felt from the beginning maybe I’d be more comfortable and that’s what happened.”
Vernon’s Vasek Pospisil dropped a 6-2, 62, 4-6, 7-6 (5) decision to sixth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia.
SHARAPOVA SHARP Maria Sharapova barely missed a beat in her first match back at the Australian Open since a failed doping test in 2016 resulted in a 15-month ban from tennis.
One of just two former champions in the women’s draw, Sharapova recovered from an early break in the second set and closed out her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Tatjana Maria with an ace on Tuesday.
She celebrated by twirling, waving and blowing kisses to the crowd.
“It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been back here — obviously I wanted to enjoy the moment,” the 2008 Australian Open champion and three-time runner-up said in an on-court TV interview.
“It was really meaningful for me to be out here.”
Sharapova was banned for after testing positive for the drug meldonium here in 2016, when she reached the quarter-finals, and finished last year ranked No. 60.
The five-time major winner could next meet No. 14-seeded Anastasija Sevastova, who beat her at the U.S. Open last year in her return to a Grand Slam.
After returning in New York, Sharapova is confident she’s prepared for a major.
“I have got a lot of things out of the way physically and emotionally and mentally last year with — there was a lot of firsts again for me, playing the first tournament, first Grand Slam, and just different feelings and what it would be routinely,” she said. “But it felt pretty routine today.”
— News Services