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Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
APThe German, though, had won both previous head-to-head meetings with Blake.
“For him, it doesn’t really matter if he plays on hard court or if he plays on clay or on grass. He plays his game. He goes for the shots,” Schuettler said. “If he hits the shot and he hits it well, (and) he feels comfortable with the balls on the court, then he’s dangerous everywhere.”
Still, clay tends to slow serves and groundstrokes and make for longer points, often rewarding patience while punishing aggressiveness. It also requires plenty of good footwork. Because people in the United States tend to grow up practicing and playing on speedier hard courts, they often find it difficult to be successful on clay, which is more commonly found in Europe and South America.
No one from the United States won the men’s singles championship in Paris between Tony Trabert’s title in 1955 and Michael Chang’s in 1989.
Blake used to find himself attempting to dramatically alter his approach on clay. Not anymore.
“I tried to be a ’clay courter,’ and I’m not. I’m not a natural mover, playing defensively on the stuff, looping balls back, standing 8 feet behind the baseline to return serves and just pushing it in. That’s not my game. I’m not good at it,” he said.
“I can’t try to be that person, that type of player. I’m going to lose to guys who are much more skilled at that. So I need to play my game and adjust a little bit, be a little bit more patient, learn to play defense a little bit better, maybe work in the drop shot a little bit more, but not completely changing my game.”
There are still moments when Blake clearly is not nearly as comfortable as he is on hard courts. After sailing one forehand long on a bit of an awkward lunge in the second set against Schuettler, Blake scolded himself: “Don’t slide into that! Just get over there!”
After building a 5-1 lead in the third set, Blake began to bungle things, losing five consecutive games. He twice was broken while serving for the match, but did eventually pull it out in the tiebreaker, getting to match point by ending a 16-stroke exchange with a runaround forehand winner just inside the line.
“Maybe this will help my confidence even more to know that no matter what happens I can deal with ups and downs in matches,” Blake said. “There was quite a few of ups until that point, and then there’s one little valley. I dealt with it, so I’m happy about that.”
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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