miaowang123: Since he wasnt playing because of the back-to-back

Since he wasnt playing because of the back-to-back

9 Apr 2018 at 22:56

ROME - Canadas Milos Raonic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Thursday to reach the Italian Open quarterfinals. Will Middlebrooks Jersey . Raonic, the No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., won five of the last six points in the first-set tiebreaker. He picked up a break in the second set en route to his first career victory over the 11th-seeded Frenchman. Tsonga outlasted Raonic in a marathon match at the London Olympics in 2012 and beat him again last year at Indian Wells. Raonic hit seven aces and saved five break point chances on the red clay courts at the Foro Italico. Hell make his fourth Masters 1000 Series quarterfinal appearance of the season Friday against Jeremy Chardy of France. Chardy, who upset Roger Federer of Switzerland in the second round, advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Croatias Ivan Dodig. Raonic has yet to reach a semifinal this year. Also Thursday, Rafael Nadal was pushed to three sets for the second consecutive match before ultimately prevailing to set up a quarterfinal against Andy Murray. The top-ranked Nadal dropped behind a set and a break against Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, then won 11 of the final 12 games to win 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1 on another windy day at the Foro Italico. "Get used to (it)," Nadal said of his recent struggles. "With the years thats the normal thing. Everybody suffers. Thats part of the sport." At 27, Nadal believed his best days were probably behind him. "At this age, (Bjorn) Borg was doing other things," said Nadal, a 13-time Grand Slam winner. "Its not possible to win for 10 years with easy scores and easy matches. At the same time, Im sure I can do much better than I am doing." Nadal was looking forward to facing Murray for the first time in more than two years. "I play against one of the top players in the world after two tough days," Nadal said. "If I play well Im going to have my chances, if not Im going to spend the weekend (at home) in Mallorca." Murray eliminated Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (1), 6-4 to celebrate his 27th birthday. In an upset, the seemingly ageless Tommy Haas beat third-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. On the womens side, Maria Sharapovas 12-match winning streak — which included titles in Stuttgart and Madrid — ended with a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Ana Ivanovic. Showing no signs of trouble from the left thigh injury that forced her to withdraw from Madrid, defending champion Serena Williams cruised past fellow American Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-2. Pushed for three hours by Gilles Simon to nearly midnight a day earlier, Nadal didnt generate the usual depth with his groundstrokes, and began to take control only when Youzhny started committing more unforced errors. "The conditions were very impossible," said Nadal, a seven-time Rome champion. "You always have to find the positive thing. I was able to play with the right motivation even if the feeling was not perfect." Nadal consistently ran around his backhand, a shot that also caused him concern in recent losses to David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, respectively. Of Nadals 29 winners, only two of them came with his backhand. Haas, the oldest player in the draw at 36, used his expertise to give Wawrinka trouble with heavy topspin. Haas last beat a top-10 player more than a year ago in Miami, where he took out then-No. 1 Novak Djokovic. "These things dont happen too often anymore, so when I take them Im really proud of them," the German said. He has been winning this week in Rome for the first time since he lost the 2002 final to Andre Agassi. Wawrinka cited a back injury that occurred in colder conditions during his opening win. "I couldnt move too well," he said. "Its really nothing serious. Its just painful and I need some rest — maybe a few days." Wawrinka has made a great start by winning the Australian Open and the Monte Carlo Masters but another early exit in last weeks Madrid Open leaves his form in question with the French Open starting in 10 days. Haas quarterfinal opponent will be Grigor Dimitrov, who at 22 is the youngest player in the top 20. Dimitrov rallied past sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2. Fifth-seeded David Ferrer beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2, 6-3 and will meet either Novak Djokovic or Philipp Kohlschreiber, who were playing late. In womens play, second-seeded Li Na defeated Sam Stosur 6-3, 6-1 and will next meet Sara Errani of Italy, who kept the crowd content by beating Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 7-6 (3). Also, third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska eliminated Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-1, and will play 2007 and 2008 Rome champion Jelena Jankovic, who got by Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-3. Shin-Soo Choo Jersey . A night later, he was back to help lead a rout of the Detroit Pistons. John Wall had 20 points and 11 assists, and Beal scored 10 of his 15 points during the second quarter as Washington pulled away for a 106-82 victory on Saturday. Jonathan Lucroy Jersey . Henderson (20-3) received winning scores of 48-47 and 49-46, and the other judge scored it 48-47 for Thomson (20-6). The announcement drew boos from the United Center crowd. "Train this hard for this long, its such a long camp and I see my title shot disappear," said Thomson, who fought most of the fight with a broken right hand.CHICAGO -- Having been burned by D.J. Augustin the previous night, the Boston Celtics clamped down on the Bulls guard in the second game of their home-and-home series. Boston succeeded in limiting Augustin to four points on 1-of-9 shooting, but that didnt affect the final outcome. Mike ;Dunleavy had 22 points on 7-for-12 shooting and Augustin handed out 11 assists to help five Bulls score in double figures for a 94-80 win over the Celtics on Monday night. "From the beginning of the game I knew they were going to do that, adjust to me," Augustin said. "I had to do some other things and find my teammates and they did a great job getting open." Joakim Noah added 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, Jimmy Butler scored 18 points, Carlos Boozer 16 and Taj Gibson had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Chicago, which pulled away with a 13-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter. The Bulls (42-32) moved into a tie with the Toronto Raptors -- who lost at Miami -- for third place in the Eastern Conference. "I think its very important," Dunleavy said of the third seed. "We want to get as high as we can. Not only with home-court advantage and avoiding the first seed in the second round, if were fortunate enough to advance. We just want to get as high as we can." Chicago swept the home-and-home series with the Celtics after winning 107-102 in Boston on Sunday. The Celtics have lost 10 straight on the road to drop to 8-28 away from home. Their last road win was Feb. 10 at Milwaukee. Brandon Bass and Jerryd Bayless scored 18 points apiece for the Celtics. Rajon Rondo didnt play Monday after getting 17 points and 11 assists Sunday. He is still working his way back to full strength following reconstructive knee surgery and doesnt play in back-to-back games. "It wasnt just the fourth (quarter)," Boston coach Brad Stevens said. "The first five minutes of the third and the fourth we went into a drought. We looked heavy-legged the whole secondd half. Jurickson Profar Jersey. "Thats no excuse because they played last night, too." The game was tight entering the fourth, but the Bulls went on a quick 9-0 run for an 80-70 lead with 9 1/2 minutes to play before Stevens called time out. The stoppage didnt curb the Bulls momentum. Gibson scored on vicious dunk off a nice feed from Butler to make it 82-70 and Noah capped the run of 13 straight with a post move for an 84-70 lead. Noah had six points during the spurt, including an 18-foot jumper before Bostons timeout. "Theyre a good team," Bayless said. "We dont have a lot of room for error. We made a couple of bad plays in a row and theyre too good and they got on the break and hit their shots. We have to pull it together for longer stretches of time." Although Augustin didnt score in the fourth, he played a big role by dishing out six assists as Boston overplayed him. "Thats the advantage we have with the finishing group," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "The job of those guys is to read what the defence is doing." The Bulls are 10 games over .500 for the first time this season. "I think were playing pretty good basketball, but I think we can play better," Noah said. "I think the mindset is good. Everybody is working, everybody is in the weight room, everybody is trying to find ways to get better." NOTES: Home-and-home series on consecutive games used to be a regular occurrence in the NBA, but are rare these days. "Its the same plays, so theres a tendency for the players to know whats coming," Thibodeau said. "I think its good preparation for whats coming down the road." ... Since he wasnt playing because of the back-to-back, Rondo spent part of the game working on the TV broadcast back to Boston. ... Celtics G Avery Bradley left the game in the first half because of a sore Achilles. . Noah had 13 assists in Sundays game, the most ever by a visiting centre in Boston. The previous high was 11 by Wilt Chamberlain in 1968. Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Jerseys China China Jerseys Wholesale China Jerseys Wholesale China NFL Jerseys ' ' '



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