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MEMPHIS, Tenn. Ray Bourque Bruins Jersey . -- Lleyton Hewitt beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 1-6, 6-2, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals at the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships on Thursday. The No. 3 seed leads the career series with Baghdatis 3-2, winning their first match since 2010 when Baghdatis had to withdraw with an injured shoulder. Hewitt won his 29th career title in Brisbane this year. He needed 91 minutes to finally beat Baghdatis for the first time outside of Australia and continue his strong start this year. "Marcos, hes always a tough competitor, and this type of court suits his style as well," Hewitt said. "He hits the ball hard and flat out there, and if hes making a lot of first serves its not easy. I just sort of bided my time out there and took my chances. Had to fight hard early in the second set to hold serve and got a bit of momentum after that." Hewitt will play American Michael Russell on Friday. Ivo Karlovic of Croatia beat second-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 7-6 (2), 6-4, serving up 19 aces and losing only six points off his serve. He will play American Jack Sock. Earlier, American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov upset eighth-seeded Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) to reach his first ATP quarterfinal. He will play fourth-seeded Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan, who beat American qualifier Denis Kudla 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Hewitt could join Roger Federer (932) and Rafael Nadal (669) as the third active player with 600 match victories if he wins the title in Memphis. Baghdatis had the benefit of an opening match here in Memphis, while Hewitt had a bye. Baghdatis also opened the match serving well with four aces, and he broke Hewitt in back-to-back games to go up 5-1 and serve out for the first set. Then Hewitt settled down and faced only one more break point in the final two sets. That came in the first game of the second set, and the former No. 1 took advantage of Baghdatis double-faulting four times and struggling with his serve. Baghdatis said he was very aggressive early. "After having a break point in the first game of the second set, I stopped playing, stopped playing aggressive and he started getting to points and rallies," Baghdatis said. "He was dictating the rallies and basically thats it. Thats all. Couldnt get back to where I started from." Hewitt said he needed a bit of time to adjust in his first match at The Racquet Club. He also started mixing up his serve as well. "He was taking a swipe at all of my serves early on so I just had to find a way to hang in there more than anything," Hewitt said. "Just the pace of the court, the ball, just try and find that rhythm out there." Kuznetsov, who turned pro in 2004 and just turned 27, finally won the seventh match of his career in his 38th match. Tuukka Rask Bruins Jersey .J. -- A couple of comeback kids helped the New York Giants continue their winning streak. Reilly Smith Jersey . Now he can be had by any team willing to pay his salary. According to a report from ESPN, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are shopping the veteran CB and plan on releasing him Wednesday if they cant find a trade partner. LOS ANGELES -- The ovations started after the Los Angeles Kings third goal in 16 minutes to open Game 4 of the Western Conference final, and the home crowd eventually serenaded its team off the ice for intermission. The low-scoring Kings have become the Stanley Cup playoffs highest-scoring team. This defensive powerhouse is shutting down the Chicago Blackhawks big stars while pushing the defending champions to the verge of elimination. Yep, the Kings deserved a hand -- even if they insist they still havent anything thats really worth cheering. Jake Muzzin, Marian Gaborik and captain Dustin Brown scored in a dominant first period, and Los Angeles beat Chicago 5-2 Monday night to take a 3-1 series lead. Muzzin and Drew Doughty each had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Quick made 22 saves as the Kings moved to the brink of their second trip to the Stanley Cup Final in three seasons with their third straight win over the defending champion Blackhawks. Gaborik, who joined the Kings on March 5 and immediately catalyzed their offence, took a momentary break from the businesslike atmosphere of the Kings dressing room and just plain marveled what Los Angeles has accomplished this spring. "To come into every game with that confidence, to have that mojo that you can win every game, thats the difference," Gaborik said. "Its great to come to a team like this and be part of a winning culture." Tanner Pearson added an empty-net goal for the Kings, who have been to the NHL finals just twice in franchise history, winning their only title in 2012. One year after Los Angeles lost the conference finals in five games to Chicago, the Kings have their own chance to close it out in five. Game 5 is Wednesday in Chicago. "Were not looking ahead," Kings forward Justin Williams said. "Chicago, I believe theyve been down 3-1 before. Every team has been through experiences that have made them better. Stanley Cup championship teams like Chicago and us, weve been through a lot. Weve persevered through a lot, and theyre down 3-1, were trying to squash them, and theyre trying to get some life." Two days after the Kings gritted out a 4-3 victory over Chicago in Game 3, they won again at Staples Center by scoring three goals on their first six shots of Game 4, capping an incredible three-game offensive performance by the lowest-scoring NHL team to make the postt-season. Zdeno Chara Bruins Jersey. . After trailing 2-0 late in the second period of Game 2, Los Angeles scored 13 goals in less than 100 minutes, capped by a dominant first period in Game 4. Muzzin scored on a power play. Gaborik added his 10th goal of the post-season off Duncan Keiths turnover. Brown banged a puck into an open net for another power-play goal, his first score since Game 7 of the first round against San Jose. Cue the standing ovations. Brandon Saad and Bryan Bickell scored and Corey Crawford stopped 16 shots for the Blackhawks, who didnt get rolling until they trailed 4-0 late in the second period. "I dont think we played that poorly," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "We made some mistakes, and their confidence snowballed on us. Next thing you know, it doesnt matter how hard you work or how many shifts you spend in their zone. If the bounces arent going your way, its tough to get back in a game like this. Were going to find a way to get those bounces again and get things rolling our way. Well work ourselves out of it." The Blackhawks escaped a 3-1 hole in the second round against Detroit last season, but thats the only time in franchise history Chicago has rallied from that deficit -- and the Kings are an entirely different post-season challenge. "Its not a good position to be in," said Patrick Kane, who assisted on Bickells goal for his first point in the series. "Coming into this series, wed be lying if we thought wed be in this position, but it happens. Got no one to blame but ourselves, so were the only ones that can get ourselves out of it." After their dominant opening period, the Kings kept pressing in the second, and Doughty put a long shot through traffic midway through the period. Doughty, the Kings leader in ice time, has goals in back-to-back games after scoring just once in the first 16 playoff games. Chicago finally beat Quick when Saad scored on a backhand. The Kings sat back on defence to start the third period, and Bickell got just his second goal in eight games when he jumped on a loose puck in the slot with 10:31 to play. NOTES: Chicagos power play went 0 for 3, dropping to 1 for 24 on the road in the post-season. ... The Blackhawks scratched F Brandon Bollig in favour of Peter Regin, who sat out Game 3 after Andrew Shaws return. ... Game 6 would be Friday at Staples Center. ' ' ' |
