LONDON -- As first-round losses go, this one was easier to take for Vasek Pospisil.
[b]Cheap Jerseys Online[/b] . Playing at Wimbledon on his 24th birthday, the Vancouver player saved three match points before falling to Robin Haase 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Monday. Despite his loss, Pospisil was more than satisfied that the back pains which had made his life hell for the past six months have been fixed thanks to a diagnosis by a Prague doctor after months of uncertainty. Pain-free over the last two weeks, Pospisil said he now knows exactly what was bothering him and that the problem has become "completely manageable." Pospisil came to the All England Club after reaching the quarter-finals on grass last week in the Netherlands in his best career performance on the surface. "This was the first match of the year which felt normal," said the player who began to be bothered by his back in Chennai in early January. "Last week was the first week of the season in which I recognized myself on court in terms of competing. "I played quite well last week and today I just had a couple of mistakes and it didnt work out. "But this was definitely a normal match. Now I can focus on what I need to work on. Not playing much probably cost me today. My main goal now is to stay healthy and finally be able to work on improving my game." On the womens side, Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., was also eliminated, losing 6-1, 6-2 to Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. The No. 31 seed was beaten in a battle lasting one hour 38 minutes to leave his Wimbledon main draw record at a 2013 win and two defeats. Pospisil hammered over 21 aces against Haase and produced 58 winners to 44 for his opponent, but he converted on only one of five break points. The Canadian dropped the opening set in a tiebreaker and levelled by winning the second before Haase took the lead two sets to one as he broke in the final game of the third. Haase earned another break for a 3-1 lead in the fourth set but was unable to close it out immediately as Pospisil salvaged three match points in the ninth game. But a cross-court forehand winner gave Haase one more winning chance, which he took when Pospisils volley went low into the net. Pospisil and Haase and split two meetings last season with a win apiece. Pospisil was one of three Canadian men in the singles draw, where eighth seed Milos Ranoic of Thornhill, Ont., heads the effort. Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., earned a lucky loser spot in the 128-man draw.
[b]Cheap Jerseys 2022[/b] . "Im proud of him," Jones said in an interview from Sacramento, site of the UFCs weekend televised card. "I think hes listening to his body and hes doing what makes him happy and thats what life is about ultimately.
[b]Cheap Jerseys Shop[/b] .com) - Colorado may be ahead of the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference standings, but they are a club that the Avalanche may want to avoid in the playoffs.The Los Angeles Kings jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead and the Chicago Blackhawks couldnt catch them, with the Kings taking a 5-2 decision in Game Four to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Kings D Jake Muzzin scored the first of two power play goals for the Kings. Playing more than 21 minutes per game in the playoffs, Muzzin now has 11 points, placing him third among defencemen in the postseason. Not bad for a guy who didnt hook on with an NHL club until the Kings signed him during his overage junior season in Sault Ste. Marie. Four years later, Muzzin is on the top defence pairing for a team closing in on the Western Conference title. Muzzin is paired with Drew Doughty, who also had a goal and an assist in Game Four (though his goal appeared to be deflected in by Dwight King) and leads defencemen with 14 points in the playoffs. Game Four was so well in hand for the Kings that they could limit Doughtys ice time; 23:55 was Doughtys lowest ice time since Game Two of the playoffs (after which he complained about his lack of ice time). For once, the Blackhawks didnt get burned by the line of Jeff Carter, Tanner Pearson and Tyler Toffoli, until Pearson scored into an empty net, though Pearson had a team-high seven shot attempts and tied Carter with a team-leading four shots on goal. The bad news for Chicago is that the Kings other top scorers got on track. Marian Gaborik scored a goal while Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams each picked up a couple of assists; Kopitar extending his playoff scoring lead with 22 points and Gaborik leads all playoff goal-scorers, with 10. In their ultimately fruitless attempt to come back, the Blackhawks chances were created by their power forwards. Marian Hossa, Bryan Bickell and Brandon Sadd had nine, eight and seven shot attempts, respectively, to lead the Bllackhawks.
[b]Cheap Jerseys Stitched[/b]. Saad and Bickell scored Chicagos goals. Chicagos leaders, C Jonathan Toews and RW Patrick Kane, skated together for most of the game, as the Blackhawks tried to shake up lines and it didnt really work. While both assisted on Bickells third-period goal, Toews didnt register a shot on goal (though, immediately preceding Bickells goal, Doughty basically blocked a Toews shot in the crease to prevent a goal), the second time in the series Toews has been held without a shot on goal. The Blackhawks need their big guns to be firing, but they also need G Corey Crawford to perform better. After allowing four goals on 20 shots in Game Four, Crawford has stopped 69 of 82 shots (.841 SV%) in the last three games. The goals against arent all on Crawford, to be sure but, no matter how you slice it, .841 isnt good enough to win. Blackhawks C Michal Handzus played a game-low 4:28, not seeing the ice beyond six minutes into the second period. This isnt the first time in the playoffs that a team, on the verge of elimination, has looked like they were on the way out, and thats the situation in which the Blackhawks find themselves now. More than 90% of teams with a three-game-to-one lead in an NHL playoff series go on to win, so the Blackhawks have a steep hill to climb. But, they can look across the ice and take heart, knowing that the Kings had to overcome a three-games-to-none deficit in Round One against San Jose to get turned loose on this playoff run. Right now, the Kings look invincible, but hockey is a funny game sometimes and if the Blackhawks are better on home ice in Game Five, maybe they still have a way to dig out of this hole. Scott Cullen can be reached at
Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '
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