MELBOURNE, Australia - Rafael Nadal dropped to his knees, clasping his hands tightly and appearing to be on the verge of tears as he celebrated a win at the
Australian Open.
Paul Kariya Jersey .The 14-time Grand Slam champion has played some epic matches on Rod Laver Arena, including an almost
six-hour final. This was a comeback second-round win over U.S. qualifier Tim
Smyczek, a player ranked No. 112 who had never beaten a top 10 player.But the
6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-5 win Wednesday was a breakthrough of sorts for the
third-seeded Nadal, who came into the first major of the season after playing
just four tournaments since Wimbledon due to a right wrist injury and appendix
surgery.At the end of the third game of the third set, Nadal called for
assistance and was given medication for stomach pain. At times in the match he
was doubled over in pain, seemingly on the verge of sickness or exhaustion.Yet
he pulled through, earning the only break of the fifth set in the 11th game and
then serving it out — after wasting three match points — in 4 hours, 12
minutes.Smyczek pushed Nadal to the limits, and played fair. When a spectator
screamed out as Nadal tossed the ball for his serve at 30-0 in the last game,
the American insisted Nadal replay the serve.Very tough night for me. Just first
of all I want to congratulate Tim — hes a real gentleman, Nadal said. What he
did in the last game is ... not a lot of people will do something like this at
6-5 in the fifth set.The highly-ranked seeds didnt get it entirely their way on
day three.No. 2-ranked Maria Sharapova saved two match points before escaping
with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 second-round win over fellow Russian Alexandra Panova, a
qualifier ranked No. 150.Roger Federer dropped the first set and needed medical
advice on his sore right pinkie finger — scolding a camera operator by saying Do
you have to be that close? — before beating Simone Bolelli 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to
reach the third round.Sharapova made 51 unforced errors as she went for the
lines, but kept swinging hard and saved some of her best ground strokes for when
she needed them.Im just happy to get through — I was one point away twice today
from being out of the tournament, said Sharapova, who started the season by
winning the Brisbane International title. I was not playing my best tennis
today. I think she played a pretty inspired match.She faced match point twice in
the 10th game of the third set, stepping into a return winner on a weak second
serve and later ripping a forehand winner deep into the corner against Panova,
who entered the Australian Open without a single match win at five previous
majors.The only Grand Slam champion remaining in her half of the draw, Sharapova
next plays No. 31 Zarina Diyas.In a late match that started just before midnight
because of the extended Nadal five-setter, French Open finalist and third-seeded
Simona Halep beat Jarmila Gajdsova 6-2, 6-2.No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard, who reached
the semifinals or better at three of the four majors in 2014, needed just 54
minutes to beat Kiki Bertens 6-0, 6-3. Also advancing were No. 10 Ekaterina
Makarova, No. 21 Peng Shuai and No. 22 Karolina Pliskova.Federer was bothered by
pain in his right hand, and took a medical timeout after the first set, before
recovering to beat No. 48 Bolelli.It felt like a bee stung me. I was like This
cant be possible — I never had this pain before. It was disturbing me, Federer,
a four-time Australian Open champion, said. I knew that to tape it wasnt an
option. Even after the match, he couldnt identify the cause of his
pain.Three-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray wasnt bothered by anything,
particularly the parochial crowd, as he beat Melbournes Marinko Matosevic 6-1,
6-3, 6-2.Seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych advanced along with No. 10 Grigor
Dimitrov, No. 14 Kevin Anderson and No. 24 Richard Gasquet.Seven of the mens
seeds were defeated — among them, 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis
beat No. 20 David Goffin and Bernard Tomic had a late 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6), 7-6
(5) win over No. 22 Philipp Kohlschreiber.Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios — who
was a wild card ranked No. 144 when he beat Nadal in the fourth round at
Wimbledon last year — beat No. 23 Ivo Karlovic in a four-set match featuring a
combined 65 aces, 40 by the loser.
Patrick Roy Avalanche Jersey .Derrick Rose scored 23 points, and the Bulls pulled away from the Nets for a 105-80 victory
on Wednesday night. Chicago held Brooklyn to 29 points on 26.
Mikko Rantanen Avalanche Jersey . Minutes before the final whistle of Sporting Kansas Citys 3-0 victory over a shorthanded
Montreal Impact squad on Saturday afternoon, Saputo tweeted: "Our fans deserve
better.OTTAWA -- If competing under the pressure of their final pre-Olympic
performance was the perfect test for Sochi, Scott Moir gave a failing grade
Friday. "We didnt perform under that pressure as well as wed like to," Moir
said. Moir and partner Tessa Virtue won the short dance at the Canadian figure
skating championships, but the defending Olympic champions werent thrilled with
their performance, admitting to considerable pressure competing in front of a
Canadian crowd for what will likely be the last time. And less than a month out
from the Games, nothing short of perfect is good enough. "Weve been training and
practising kind of lights-out and Tessa and I, were really perfectionists and it
felt like we had a couple moments today that just werent the way wed been
training," Moir said. "Thats probably the emotion you see on our faces." Virtue
and Moir earned 76.16 points for their jazz-infused skate to music by Ella
Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, but lost marks for holding a rotational lift for
too long. In the lift in question, Virtue lies on her back across a spinning
Moirs shoulders. There were a few other small missteps as well. "Just technical
things," Moir explained. "I felt like I was a battling a little with my knees
today, wasnt quite under the ice. . . maybe I was watching world junior (hockey)
highlights or something." Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., were
second with 72.68, while Alexandra Paul of Toronto and Mitchhell Islam of
Barrie, Ont.
Lanny McDonald Avalanche Jersey. , were third with 67.67. Canada, which will name its Olympic team Sunday, has three ice
dancing berths at the Sochi Games. Virtue admitted the two are being tougher on
themselves with the Games so close. "Im sure a lot of people around will think
Oh dont be so negative," Virtue said. "There are a lot of positives to take from
(the program). Its just the place we are in our season, its all about process,
its all about trying to achieve the highest quality of performance possible, so
were always trying to get that." Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from
Ilderton, Ont., have been living and training in a bubble of sorts the past few
weeks in Canton, Mich., making a strategic decision to block out almost
everything Olympic-related. They used the same approach leading into the 2010
Vancouver Games. "Its nice when were in the States because we dont see anything,
about anything Canadian," Virtue said. Theyre not even watching their own show
-- the W Networks "Tessa & Scott" -- which is two episodes into the
seven-episode series. "Its just too much us," Moir said. "Its so close to the
Games, we sort of lived it already, we dont want to go back and feel the things
we were feeling in August and September, especially just a few weeks short of
the Olympics," Virtue added. "Were in such a great place now. . . its better for
us to block everything out and focus on every day."
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