Raonic falls to unseeded foe in Brisbane opener

BRISBANE, Australia • Canadian Milos Raonic made an early exit at the Brisbane International on Thursday, dropping a 6-3, 6-4 decision in his opening match to Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., conceded just three points on his own first serve in the second-round matchup, but was unable to put pressure on his opponent’s first serve. Dimitrov won all 26 of his first-serve points in the 61-minute match.

The second-seeded Raonic is 13th in the world rankings, 35 positions ahead of the Bulgarian. Dimitrov will next play No. 7 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who posted a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over David Goffin of Belgium.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams had a tough win over the woman she’s predicting will one day top the rankings, setting up a semifinal match against current No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.

The reigning Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic champion showed plenty of emotion on key points in a heavyhitting duel with Fed Cup teammate Sloane Stephens on Thursday before winning 6-4, 6-3.

Williams converted both break points and fended off one break chance against her in each set, later saying Stephens had the potential to be “the best in the world one day.”

Stephens was hitting the ball hard and cleanly, and got the better of some powerful rallies, but lacked experience in the two key moments — giving up a set point after wasting a game point on her own serve in the first and dropping serve in the eighth game of the second set.

The 19-year-old Stephens accepted the warm praise from Williams, her childhood idol.

“To have someone like that who I think is one of the greatest players to ever play the game say that about you is really nice,” said Stephens. “I lost to the best player in the world today, so you know, it’s good.”

Williams has an 11-1 record against Azarenka and was 5-0 against the 23-year-old Belarusian in 2012.