Neues/Ankündigungen/Anregungen » each received 57 first-team

MONACO -- Canadas Milos Raonic opened his clay-court season with a second-round victory over Taiwans Yen Lu-Hsun at the Monte Carlos Masters on Wednesday. The No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., rebounded nicely after dropping a first-set tiebreaker in the 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1 victory. "I did a lot of things well today," Raonic said. "I had the discipline I needed when things were not going so well. "I played a clean match, on a lot of his service games I was creating opportunities for myself." Raonic, who had a first-round bye, fired 19 aces and completed the win in just under two hours in cool, windy conditions. He had three set point opportunities in the opening set but couldnt convert. "Even losing the first set, I still had chances in his service games," he said. "During the rest of the match on every game on his serve I was at least getting close. "I felt at ease despite the situation after the end of the first set." The Canadian rallied in the second set with an early break to lead for 2-0, eventually taking a 5-2 lead and serving it out to pull even. He ran away with the third set for the win. Raonic will next play No. 11 Tommy Robredo of Spain, who earned a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 win over Julien Benneteau of France. "My goal is to do as well as I can this clay season and better than I did last year," said Raonic. "My main focus will be on the tournaments in Madrid and Paris." Also Wednesday, Roger Federer was happier than eight-time champion Rafael Nadal after their straight-sets wins to reach the third round. Federer took just 52 minutes to beat veteran Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-2, while Nadal overcame a rusty start to put away Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-1. The top-seeded Nadal, who lost the title to Novak Djokovic last year, dropped his opening service game and trailed 3-1 in the first set. But from 4-4, the Spaniard reeled off six straight games, then the Russian qualifier broke his serve again. "I think I started little bit slow," Nadal said. "But he was playing very, very aggressive, hitting very strong, with no mistakes." Nadals body language suggested he was far from happy with his performance. At times he looked glum-faced, other times annoyed with his shots. His serve was vulnerable, too, as he conceded four break-point chances -- including in consecutive service games during the second set. He clinched victory with a crisp forehand winner. "I felt comfortable in the second set," Nadal said. "I think I was playing better. " Federer, returning to the tournament for the first time since 2011, was far more ruthless as he raced to 5-0 in 17 minutes. He improved his record against the 35-year-old Stepanek to 14-2. The Czech has not beaten Federer in six years. "A bit surprised how well it went. On clay, when you have the upper hand from the baseline, its kind of hard to get out of it," Federer said. "Thats kind of how it was for Radek. I had a good start to both sets, I was solid on my own service games. It was clearly a good match to start my clay-court campaign." The fourth-seeded Federer next plays another Czech, Lukas Rosol, who beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-4, while Nadal plays Italian Andreas Seppi, who won 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-4 against Spaniard Pablo Andujar. Federer has never won Monte Carlo, losing in three straight finals to Nadal from 2006-08. They cant meet again until the final. Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka, seeded third, was slightly faster than Federer, needing only 46 minutes to thrash Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-0, 6-2. "I expected a more difficult first round against him. I felt good on the court," Wawrinka said. "I know that if I feel good physically, then I am able to put a lot of pressure on my opponent." No. 10 Fabio Fognini of Italy, No. 11 Tommy Robredo, No. 12 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and No. 15 Nicolas Almagro -- both Spanish -- also advanced to the third round. Raonic rallied to beat Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-1; Fognini downed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-4; Robredo won 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 against Julien Benneteau of France; Dimitrov downed Spaniard Albert Ramos 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Almagro beat Nicolas Mahut, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Grand Prix Hassan II winner Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat No. 17 Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1, 7-5, and Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta next faces defending champion Novak Djokovic after winning 6-3, 7-6 (6) against Gael Monfils. Wholesale Raptors Jerseys .com) - The Winnipeg Jets got over one hurdle by snapping their longest losing streak of the season. Toronto Raptors Store . Louis Cardinals, the team will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of the SkyDome. Jays legends Jimmy Key and Ernie Whitt, members of playoff and World Series-winning teams of the past, will be on hand for the festivities to look back at what was the beginning of the Jays halcyon years. https://www.cheapraptors.com/.K. Subban has picked the right time of the year to go on an offensive tear. Custom Toronto Raptors Jerseys . - Roger Federer squandered a big lead and lost to No. Toronto Raptors Pro Shop .J. Fair didnt have many chances to be the main option for Syracuse last season.Chicagos Joakim Noah and Indianas Paul George received the most votes on this years NBA all-defensive team, released Monday. Less than two months after a landslide victory in balloting for the leagues defensive player of the year, Noah was the only player to receive more than 100 first-team votes and earn more than 200 points for the team. Noah received 105 of 123 possible votes, while George had 65 votes. The rest of the first team consisted of Clippers guard Chris Paul, Oklahoma City forward Serge Ibaka and Golden State swingman Andre Iguodala. Its the second consecutive year Noah was chosen to the first team. Four-time league MVP LeBron James and defensive player of the year runner-up Roy Hibbert were both on the second team. Noah dominated on the defensive end this season, joining Andre Drummond of Detroit and Anthony Davis of New Orleans as the only players in the league to average at least 10.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals. Noah finished sixth in the league in rebounding (11.3), 12th in blocks (1.51) and helped the Bulls hold opponents to 43.0 per cent field goal shooting, the second-best maark in the league.dddddddddddd He also had 1.24 steals per game. George, widely considered one of the leagues best two-way players at age 24, finished fifth in the league in steals (1.89) and was the only player in the NBA to average at least 6.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals. Paul received 64 first-team votes after winning his sixth steals title (2.48). Ibaka made his presence felt in the Western Conference finals. After getting beaten twice in San Antonio without him, the Thunder won the next two games on their home court with Ibaka. The Spurs eventually won the series 4-2. Iguodala averaged 1.5 steals as the Warriors jumped from No. 19 in defence in 2012-13 to 10th this season. James and Iguodala each received 57 first-team votes but Iguodala had 14 more second-team votes to edge out James for the final spot on the first team. Houston guard Patrick Beverley, Chicago guard Jimmy Butler, San Antonio forward Kawhi Leonard and Hibbert rounded out the second team. Indiana and Chicago were the only teams with two players on the list, which is selected by a panel of 123 sports writers and broadcasters in the U.S. and Canada. ' ' '