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Joined: 18-05-2024
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Subject :TORONTO -- Canadas Milos Raonic boasts one of the strongest power games on the mens tennis tour. [ur
TORONTO -- Canadas Milos Raonic boasts one of the strongest power games on the mens tennis tour. Corey Coleman Browns Jersey . On Friday night, his game was undone by an unseeded opponent who picked his style apart. Spains Feliciano Lopez eliminated Raonic from the Rogers Cup with a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 quarter-final victory in front of a surprised crowd at Rexall Centre. Raonic, the No. 6 seed from Thornhill, Ont., struggled early and was hampered by unforced errors on the stadium showcourt. Raonic hung in there despite his inconsistency but couldnt convert one of the nine break point opportunities he had in a pivotal 12-minute game midway through the deciding set. Lopez later picked up a break before closing out the win. "I just need to show in a few situations more courage and go for it a little bit more," Raonic said. "Not just that third set but all throughout the match." Raonics trademark rocket serve was still a weapon but his rhythm on the baseline was affected by Lopezs unique style. The crafty left-handed Spaniard mixed things up with cut shots, chip-and-chase strokes and a nice variety of drops and lobs. The change in pace seemed to handcuff Raonic at times. His ground strokes were still powerful but they were weakened when Lopez forced the Canadian wider on court or made him change his approach. The Spaniard said he went heavy on his second serves and was fortunate to hang in there in the third set. "I mean to save nine break points in the same game -- even though I played great (for) most of them -- I have to get a little bit lucky," Lopez said. He completed the victory in one hour 57 minutes to quiet the vocal near-capacity crowd. "Two mistakes, one break and thats it. This is tennis," Lopez said. Lopez will play Roger Federer of Switzerland in the semifinals on Saturday. The second-seeded Swiss star defeated No. 5 David Ferrer of Spain 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the late quarter-final. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France also reached the final four with a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-4 victory over Britains Andy Murray. Tsonga will meet seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who outlasted South Africas Kevin Anderson 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (6). Raonic relied on his powerful ground strokes but the results were mixed as he sprayed a number of shots and had several mishits. The 23-year-old right-hander didnt hide his frustration. At 2-2 and with serve in the opening set, Raonic shouted out in frustration after dropping the first two points of the game. His next shot went long and another mishit gave Lopez the first service break of the match. Raonic threw an exasperated look at his coach at the changeover and couldnt pull even, with Lopez sealing the set with an overhead smash. The Canadian came out strong in the second set by taking the first five points. He was still having trouble with the spin on some of Lopezs shots but the pace of the match started to open up with longer rallies. The players went back and forth with mini-breaks in the tiebreaker. Raonic converted his first set point when Lopez fired a ball long as he tripped while approaching the net. The Spaniard landed awkwardly on his wrist and could be seen trying to loosen it up before the third set. It apparently wasnt a bother as Lopez was steady on serve and consistent down the stretch. "He did a good job," Raonic said. "He stepped up and played well in the important moments, especially on his service game." Earlier, the 13th-seeded Tsonga picked up his second straight upset victory by knocking off the eighth-seeded Murray, who had won nine of 10 previous meetings against the Frenchman. Tsonga was coming off a convincing win over top-seeded Novak Djokovic. "This week is kind of rewards for me," Tsonga said. "To play like this, to beat two guys in the top 10. Its good and I hope it will continue." Tsonga, who had an 18-7 edge in aces over Murray, won 83 per cent of points when his first serve was in. "I was able to serve maybe 220 (km/h) all match and for me its something great when Im serving like this," Tsonga said. "Im able to play good tennis." Murray said it was a much faster-paced match than his tournament opener against Nick Kyrgios. The two-time Rogers Cup champ had reached the quarter-finals on a walkover when Richard Gasquet withdrew due to an abdominal injury. "Jo is a top player, hes a fantastic athlete," Murray said. "When his game is on, hes very tough to beat." In mens doubles play, the third-seeded team of Torontos Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia advanced with a 2-6, 6-3, 14-12 win over No. 5 Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. No. 4 Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Marcelo Melo of Brazil beat seventh-seeded Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 4-6, 6-4, 10-8. The second-seeded duo of Alexander Peya of Austria and Bruno Soares of Brazil defeated Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherlands and Romanias Horia Tecau 7-6 (4), 6-4. Federer was the highest-seeded player left in the singles draw after three of the top four seeds were eliminated Thursday. He improved to 15-0 lifetime against Ferrer. Raonic, meanwhile, was coming off a tournament victory last weekend in Washington and fell to 2-2 against Lopez. He has six career wins on the ATP Tour but is still looking for his first Masters 1000 title. All three of his matches were three-set affairs at the US$3.78-million tournament. His focus now turns to the next hardcourt warmup event in Ohio ahead of the U.S. Open. "Im competing well and fighting well and I know I can play much better tennis," Raonic said. "The goal has always been get better each week to be playing my best tennis in New York, and thats what Im most looking forward to. "Cincinnati is the next step to getting better." Raonic reached the final at last years Rogers Cup in Montreal before losing to Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard is not back to defend his title due to a wrist injury. Bernie Kosar Black Jersey . PAUL, Minn – The clock lingered for what seemed like an interminable two minutes and 51 seconds before Mark Fraser finally escaped to the bench during a wildly one-sided first period of an eventual loss to Boston. Cleveland Browns Jerseys . But last years runner-up Jarkko Nieminen crashed out despite winning the first set against Denis Istomin. Istomin fired 10 aces and won 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 to even his career record against Nieminen at 3-3. http://www.brownsauthoritystore.com/Authentic-Jim-Brown-Browns-Jersey/ . "This doesnt end anything," he said. "Weve got 10-1 in our last 11 games, and were going home in first place. We just have to keep playing the way we are right now.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Raptors will look to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2008 when they host the Boston Celtics tonight at the Air Canada Centre in the back end of a home and home. After picking up a rare win in Boston, the Toronto Raptors will be back on familiar ground when they host the Celtics Friday from Air Canada Centre. Terrence Ross led the Raptors with 24 points in a 99-90 triumph, while Kyle Lowry continued his recent tear with 23 and nine rebounds. DeMar DeRozan rounded out the 20-point scorers with exactly that many and Jonas Valanciunas ended with 15 points and 14 rebounds for Toronto, which has alternated results in the last six games. The Raptors broke an 11-game losing streak in Boston, last winning there on Jan. 23, 2008. "That was a character test for us," said Toronto head coach Dwane Casey. "I think this team has a lot of character. Situations were not there yet, but again its not from a lack of fight and togetherness." Casey needs three wins to reach 100 victories with the team. The Raptors last posted 40 total wins in a season in 2009-10 (40-42) and the fastest team to reach 40 wins was the 1999-00 squad after 70 games. The current unit needed 71 games to reach the mark. Lowry has scored 19 or more points in each of the last 11 games, averaging 22.5 points in that span. DeRozan is averaging more than 20 points per game against Atlantic Division foes. Toronto leads the division by 2 1/2 games ahead of Brooklyn and is even with Chicago for the third spot in the Easterrn Conference. Xavier Cooper Browns Jersey. Toronto is 21-14 north of the border this season. Boston has lost two in a row and nine of its last 12 games, and was paced by Jared Sullingers 26 points (19 in fourth quarter) and eight rebounds on Wednesday. "Sully (Sullinger) got hot and I thought even though we were really undersized we played pretty well in that time," said Boston head coach Brad Stevens. Avery Bradley had 16 points, Rajon Rondo chipped in nine and 15 assists and Chris Johnson added 13 points off the bench. The Celtics shot 41 percent from the floor and had a 51-7 advantage from their reserves. The Celtics will try to stop an eight-game road losing streak in Toronto and have an 8-26 mark as the visitor. Their previous road win was Feb. 10 against the Milwaukee Bucks. Celtics forward Jeff Green had six points in 20 minutes on Wednesday and is bothered by a stiff neck. Green hopes to play against the Raptors. Rondo needed stitches to close a cut on his forehead and returned to the game to cover Raptors All-Star DeRozan. "I think it obviously says a lot. He wants to play and not only, I think the most important part about it is he came back in and guarded DeRozan (DeMar)," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said of Rondo. "He went after it and I thought he did a pretty good job on him." Toronto is 2-1 against the Celtics this season, but the latter has prevailed in four of the last seven meetings between the teams. Boston has lost two straight, four of five and five of its last seven trips to Canada. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' ' |
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