Raonic out in first-round stunner

MELBOURNE, Australia (CP) — 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 yearlong 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.

• MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Defending champion Roger Federer continues his quest for a 20th Grand Slam singles title and top-seeded Simona Halep starts another bid for her first when both see action on Day Two at the Australian Open.

Fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova begins play on Rod Laver Arena in a match Tuesday against Veronica Cepede Royg, with Halep following two matches later against Destanee Aiava.

Federer is set to open the night program at Rod Laver in a match against Aljaz Bedene.

Also set to play their first-round matches are six-time champion Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova, who is playing at Melbourne Park for the first time since testing positive for the banned drug meldonium here, and the Canadian pair of Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard.