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MELBOURNE, Australia - Torontos Daniel Nestor and Belarus partner Max Mirnyi reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open by holding off Italians Daniele Bracciale and Potito Starace 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Sunday. Steve Bartkowski Red Jersey . The 39-year-old Nestor has taken his usual place as the last Canadian in contention at a major after rising star Milos Raonic went out to Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of singles. He and Mirnyi will next play the Mexican-German pair of Santiago Gonzalez and Christopher Kas. Nestor and Mirnyi had to fight to hold onto a quick lead in the opening set and needed more than 90 minutes to finally achieve victory against the team whose only title came on clay in Bucharest last autumn. "They were definitely tough, all the teams we have played so far have been tough," said Nestor. "They stepped up their game when we were leading in the first set and put pressure on us. "Sometimes teams like that will then go away but they didnt; they and hung in there. It was the same in the second set when we were up a break. Nestor and his partner have won four titles in 2011, including the London year-end finals and the Brisbane champions earlier this month. "Max and I are pretty pleased with how weve been playing," added Nestor. "We ve carried last years momentum into the new year. Our goal is to win the Australian Open, were trying to win the title here." Nestor and Mirnyi led 5-2 before the Italian pair mounted a comeback, saving a pair of set points in the ninth game as Nestor was broken and two more in the 12th. With the set going into a tiebreaker, the drama continued. Nestors team got away to a 4-1 lead only to see the challengers push back, with Bracciale and Starace saving another pair of set points before Mirnyi finally produced a service winner on opportunity No. 6 to claim the opener after a hard-fought 57 minutes. The second set was slightly less demanding as Nestor and Mirnyi started with a break and got another for 5-2 before serving out the win a game later. Kroy Biermann Black Jersey . Cross-country skier Brian McKeever won the mens visually impaired 20-kilometre race on Monday.Bear Pascoe Red Jersey . Brooks and Harrison, along with tackle Walter Jones and coach Tony Dungy, were the first-year eligible candidates to make the cut from 126 to 25. Brooks won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, while Harrison and Dungy were champions with Indianapolis.TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays have put up some impressive numbers of late and the long ball is helping them get it done. Edwin Encarnacion hit two of Torontos season-high five home runs as the Blue Jays capped a two-game mini-sweep of Philadelphia by outscoring the Phillies 12-6 on Thursday at Rogers Centre. It was the second straight night that the Blue Jays had a double-digit run total as they extended their winning streak to five games. "Were some kinda hot right now," said Jays manager John Gibbons. Toronto (18-17) has hit at least one homer in eight straight games, a big reason why they have moved back over the .500 mark. Colby Rasmus, Juan Francisco and Adam Lind also went deep to help make a winner of R.A. Dickey (3-3). "Were swinging it good right now and everybody is feeding off each other," Gibbons said. "I would say right now its probably a good club to pitch for." Dickey had a few rough moments but his knuckleball was moving nicely and it regularly handcuffed the Phillies. He worked into the seventh inning and struck out a season-high eight batters. "Im making strides," he said. "I had a good (knuckler). I had one that was a swing-and-miss one tonight. It was comfortable out of my hand all night long." Former Blue Jay starter A.J. Burnett (2-2) was roughed up for six earned runs over six innings. He allowed nine hits and two walks while striking out four. "Balls ran over the plate tonight," Burnett said. "I wasnt on the corners at all. The hook was inconsistent. I had it at times. The bottom line is the balls werent on the corners, the ball was in the middle of the plate." Encarnacion set the tone early by blasting his 200th career homer in the second inning. "(Im) swinging at better pitches, (Im) more confident and (Im) feeling great at the plate," Encarnacion said through translator Luis Rivera. Rasmus hit a rainbow shot that barely cleared the wall by the right-field pole later in the frame. Lind added a two-run shoot in the sixth inning as the Blue Jays pulled away. Kroy Biermann Red Jersey. "You want to come in and stop the bleeding and set the tone and that wasnt there," Burnett said. Encarnacion added a two-run shot in the seventh and Francisco tagged a solo shot on the next pitch. Jose Reyes broke out of a slump as his ground-rule double in the third inning ended an 0-for-10 skid. He stole third and came home on a Jose Bautista sacrifice fly. Reyes was at it again in the fifth inning after he was hit by a pitch. The speedy shortstop -- who battled a hamstring problem last month -- stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a Bautista groundout. "You can tell hes feeling a lot more comfortable and he was able to turn it loose," Gibbons said. The Blue Jays have won their last eight meetings against Philadelphia (15-18). They will continue their nine-game homestand Friday with the opener of a four-game set against the Los Angeles Angels. Toronto, which clobbered the Phillies 10-0 a night earlier, outhit Philadelphia 13-10 in front of an announced crowd of 18,158. The Phillies opened the scoring in the second inning and scratched out singles runs in the fifth and the seventh. Ryan Howard hit a two-run shot off reliever Esmil Rogers in Philadelphias three-run ninth inning. Dickey allowed seven hits, three earned runs and walked three batters over 6 1-3 innings pitched. Notes: The game took three hours to play. ... Olympic curling champion Brad Jacobs was in attendance. ... Toronto optioned right-hander Chad Jenkins to triple-A Buffalo before the game. ... Bautista has reached base in all 35 games this season. ... It was Encarnacions 12th career multi-homer game. ... Howard has seven homers this season. ... Dustin McGowan (2-1) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Friday against Garrett Richards (3-0). ... It was the 20,000th game in franchise history for the Phillies. The team played its first game on May 1, 1883, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Providence Grays at Recreation Park. cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
