BRISBANE, Australia - Third-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic fired 17 aces and didnt face a break point as he advanced to the Brisbane International quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan on Thursday in his opening match of the year. Finished last year and we definitely thought I could do a lot better with my serve, so we spent a lot of time this off season on that and Im happy that its going well, Raonic said. The 24-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., said hes coming off his best off-season ever, and is ready to make his breakthrough at the Grand Slam events. Thats the biggest goal Ive set for myself, is to do much better in specifically one major, said Raonic, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals and French Open quarter-finals last year. Ive been in a semifinal now, but I can do much better. His Canadian compatriots had another win at the Hopman Cup in Perth, where Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., beat Italys Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-4 and Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil beat Fabio Fognini 6-0, 6-3. Canada dropped the doubles match against the Italians, however, then were denied a spot in the final when the United States won all three games against the Czech Republic. Maria Sharapova moved into the Brisbane semifinals with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro, weathering a challenging opening few games before taking the momentum away from her Spanish rival. Top-seeded Sharapova dropped her opening service game and then needed eight breakpoints before converting for a 2-1 lead. From there, it was straight-forward progress. I lost to her last year. We went back and forth with our victories in 2014, so Im always a little bit aware of girls that I lose to, Sharapova said. Maybe made a little bit too many unforced errors in the beginning, but then got a good rhythm and finished strong. No. 2-ranked Sharapova has dropped just five games across her opening two matches of the season and next faces Ukraines Elina Svitolina, who came from a set and a break down to beat third-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. At the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki overcame occasional frustration with her own game as she beat Germanys Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals. No. 8-ranked Wozniacki showed anger when she failed to put away crucial points, and gave up early service breaks in both sets before beating the 75th-ranked Goerges in 1 hour, 27 minutes. She has always been a tricky opponent for me, Wozniacki said. She serves really big, she has big shots. I tried to run every ball down ... at times I didnt feel very comfortable, I just fought to the end. Wozniacks semifinal opponent will be fourth-seeded Barbora Zhalavova Strycova of the Czech Republic, a 6-4, 7-5 winner over seventh-seeded Coco Vandeweghe of the United States. Meanwhile, Roger Federer, a 17-time Grand Slam held his cool to recover from a set and a break down and beat Australian wild-card entry John Millman 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The weather was reasonably mild for subtropical Brisbane, where Federer lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the final last year. It was the hot reception from the No. 153-ranked Millman that troubled him for a while. Im sweating like crazy, Federer said. Under a lot of pressure. I think I got quite lucky in the second set. He was playing great tennis. It was slow start for the 33-year-old Swiss star, who had a first-round bye. He wasted four break-point chances in an opening game that lasted seven minutes before Millman held. Federer was broken in the 10th game, saving three set points before hitting a swinging forehand volley too long to surrender the first set to Millman, who was getting raucous support from a parochial, hometown crowd. The top-seeded Federer dropped serve to give Millman a 3-1 lead. But he broke back immediately, setting it up with classic one-handed backhand down the line, and saved three break points in the next game to keep it on serve. Thats when things started to go his way. First match of the season, you never know quite what to expect, said Federer, who walked on court with 996 career match wins on the ATP tour — 993 more than Millman. Credit to him for pushing it. Federer will face another Australian wild-card entry in the next round, after James Duckworth beat Jarkko Nieminen 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. Mark Recchi Jersey . -- C.J. 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Granger was acquired from the Indiana Pacers last Thursday for Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen, but never played a minute for Philadelphia. The 76ers also received a 2015 second-round draft pick in the deal.PHOENIX - The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired right-hander Jeremy Hellickson from the Tampa Bay Rays.The trade, announced Friday night, is the first major move by new Diamondbacks General Manager Dave Stewart. The Diamondbacks sent Tampa Bay two minor league prospects, infielder Andrew Velazquez and outfielder Justin Williams.Hellickson, the American League Rookie of the Year in 2010, has a 40-36 career record and a 3.78 ERA in 115 appearances, 108 starts, in five seasons with the Rays.He began the 2014 season on the disabled list and went 1-5 with a 4.52 ERA. Hellickson won a Gold Glove Award in 2012.Stewart said at this weeks general manager meetings that acquiring a starting pitcher was a top priority. Hellickson had been mentioned prominently in trade rumours at the meetings, with Milwaukee considered a possible destination.The Diamondbacks are coming off an awful season, finishing with the worst record in the majors at 64-98. Manager Kirk Gibson was fired and general manager Kevin Towers reassigned. Towers subsequently quit and Tony La Russa, who took over during the season as head of baseball operations, hired Stewart.The 27-year-olld Hellickson, 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, started out well after coming off the DL last season, going 1-1 in five starts with a 2.dddddddddddd03 ERA, but struggled the rest of the way.He won the rookie of the year award after going 13-10 with a 2.95 ERA in 2011. He is arbitration eligible this year and would become in 2017. He earned $3.625 million on a one-year contract last season.Hellickson had a career-high 135 strikeouts in 2013, going 12-10 but his ERA was a career-worst 5.17.With three young shortstops at the major league level — Chris Owings, Didi Gregorius and Nick Ahmed — the Diamondbacks decided to part with the 5-foot-8 Velazquez, an intriguing prospect who reached base in a minor league record 74 consecutive games last season for the low Class-A South Bend Silver Hawks. The 20-year-old, who also plays second base, hit .290 with 18 doubles, 15 triples, nine home runs, 56 RBIs and 50 stolen bases in 134 games.Velazquez was named the Midwestern League prospect of the year.The 19-year-old Williams hit .351 with 12 doubles, five triples, four home runs and 46 RBIs in 74 games with rookie league Missoula and South Bend. ' ' '