saw a lot of rubber and did a phenomenal job of just

BEIJING, China - Rafael Nadal is back in form on the tennis court a€” and in his sharp-tongued critiques of the ATP tour. Oakland Athletics Pro Shop .The second-seeded Spaniard reached his first quarterfinal since capturing his record ninth French Open title in June with a 6-3, 6-4 win over German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk at the China Open on Thursday, then blasted the choice of tennis balls at the tournament.The ball is so bad here, Nadal said. If you throw the ball on the floor, the bounce goes everywhere. Is not a question of winning or losing. I won in Rio (earlier this year) with this ball.Its just that were competing at the top level of our sport, tennis, and the ball is an important thing.This isnt the first time the 14-time major winner has complained previously about the ball in question a€” manufactured by Head. He also criticized the decision to switch ball manufacturers from tournament to tournament, saying it could result in injuries.This week we are playing with one ball. Next week we are playing with a different ball, he said. Thats dangerous for the shoulder, dangerous for the elbow.Head is a corporate sponsor of the ATP tour, but each tournament has the right to choose the ball it wants to use from an approved list.Andy Murray echoed Nadals complaints about the difficulty of adjusting to a new ball each week.If you want to see consistently high level tennis, its very difficult when youre changing balls from week to week -because they all react differently, he said after his 6-2, 6-2 win over Pablo Cuevas.Im sure if you gave golfers a different ball to play with each week, it would take them time to adjust to that, as well.Nadal wasnt nearly as critical of his own game in his second match back from a two-month layoff due to a right wrist injury.He was sharp for much of the match until the final game when he double-faulted and made two unforced errors to give Gojowczyk three break points. He fought them off, however, and closed it out on his fourth match point.Nadal faces another qualifier in the quarterfinals, Martin Klizan, who advanced when seventh-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia retired with a shoulder injury while trailing 6-2, 3-0.Murray takes on U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Portugals Joao Sousa.In the womens draw, top-ranked Serena Williams recovered from a second-set lapse to defeat Lucie Safarova, 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.After the match, Williams skipped her post-match news conference, releasing a statement saying she had a little swelling in her knee. She wore strapping on the knee during the match she said was preventative.Simona Halep of Romania won a back-and-forth match against Andrea Petkovic of Germany 7-6 (4), 5-7, 7-6 (1), then immediately withdrew from the tournament with a left hip injury.The second-seeded Halep took a medical timeout for treatment on her hip after the first set, but returned to complete the match, which featured 17 breaks of serve and 105 combined unforced errors (61 from the Romanian).It was a tough match against Andrea today, and I had to fight a lot. Im happy I was able to win and finish the match in the right way, but I have a hip injury and it would be risky for me to play again tomorrow, Halep said in a statement.Haleps withdrawal gave ninth-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia a pass to the semifinals. The 2008 French Open champion, who is fighting for a spot in the WTA finals in Singapore, earlier beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-3, 7-5.Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova also advanced when Venus Williams withdrew before their match with a virus. Her illness came days after sister Serena retired from a match at last weeks Wuhan Open with a virus, as well.Seventh-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany was defeated by two-time major winner Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, while No. 12-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia fell to Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 0-6, 7-5.Other mens winners included third-seeded Tomas Berdych and fifth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. Athletics Jerseys 2020 .While Rosberg is coming off a strong victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton is dwelling on a mistake that ended his streak of five consecutive wins and kept him from increasing his advantage. Oakland Athletics Store . There is no argument that the line of Pacioretty, David Desharnais and Thomas Vanek was one of the hottest in the NHL leading into the post-season, and they did combine for three goals and seven points, but it was the depth of all four lines that helped propel Montreal. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/ .com) - Fair Grounds commences its road to the Kentucky Derby Saturday with the 71st running of the $200,000 Lecomte Stakes.St. Paul, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the final round of the shootout to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. After Jake Allen stopped a Jason Pominville wrister, Tarasenko skated in and snapped a wrister into the left corner of the net for the win. Tarasenko also scored in regulation as did David Backes for the Blues, who have won four of their last five. Jake Allen posted 36 stops in the win. (Allen) saw a lot of rubber and did a phenomenal job of just giving us a chance, Backes said. Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise scored goals for the Wild, who have lost three of their last five. Niklas Backstrom stopped 24 shots in the defeat. Its frustrating that we didnt get the win, said Parise. I thought we played well enough. After a scoreless first period, the Blues took a 1-0 lead just past the halfway mark of the second aas Tarasenko grabbed the puck at the right point and skated all the way to the low left side before lifting the puck in for his 14th of the season. Cheap Athletics Jerseys. Minnesota tied the game four minutes later when Koivus wrister from the right circle beat Allen for his third of the year, and the Wild grabbed a 2-1 lead on the power play courtesy of Parises blast from the top of the left circle with 59 seconds left in the second. St. Louis, though, tied the game with 5:33 left in regulation as Patrik Berglund sent a short pass from the slot to the right wing where Backes quickly lifted the puck into the right corner. Game Notes Minnesota went 1-for-5 on the power play while St. Louis was 0-for-2 ... The Blues took four of the five games from the Wild last season ... St. Louis plays at Chicago on Wednesday ... Minnesota hosts Montreal on Wednesday. ' ' '