B-Junioren » would make our team stronger going

ROME - Canadian Milos Raonic advanced to his first semifinal of the season Friday after a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 quarter-final win over Jeremy Chardy of France at the Italian Open. Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., will next play second-ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who is back on track after a right wrist injury sidelined him last week. Raonic led by a set and a break at 6-3, 4-3 before losing his serve for the first time in the tournament. Chardy broke again at 6-5 to force a third set on an overcast day at the Foro Italico. Djokovic, who sat out last weeks Madrid Open, overcame a stiff challenge from David Ferrer before grinding out a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win. Djokovic double-faulted on his first match point but then won a 38-shot rally before eventually closing it out in just over 2 1/2 hours. Djokovic is aiming for third Rome title, having won the clay-court event in 2008 and 2011. Also reaching the last four was Grigor Dimitrov, who celebrated his 23rd birthday with a win when 36-year-old Tommy Haas retired after losing the first set 6-2 due to a right shoulder injury — spoiling a matchup between the youngest and oldest players in the top 20. Dimitrovs semifinal opponent will be either seven-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal or Wimbledon title-holder Andy Murray, who were playing later in the last key warm-up event before the French Open starts in nine days. "Its definitely one of the most memorable days of my life," Dimitrov said upon reaching his first Masters series semifinal. "Im just a happy birthday boy today." In womens play, Sara Errani took advantage of a supportive crowd to beat second-seeded Li Na 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 and reach the semifinals for the second consecutive year. Errani will next meet either 2007 and 2008 Rome champion Jelena Jankovic or third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska. In the other half of the draw, 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic beat 13th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and will face either top-ranked Serena Williams or Zhang Shuai of China. The 10th-seeded Errani is attempting to become the first Italian to win the tournament since Raffaella Reggi took the title 29 years ago in Taranto. The last Italian man to win was Adriano Panatta back in 1976. Li was unusually inconsistent, committing 52 unforced errors to Erranis 21, and appeared rattled by a close call from the chair umpire early in the third set. Errani celebrated by waving her arms to incite the crowd. "I did well not to get carried away by the euphoria," Errani said. "Its difficult to describe how it felt at the end. The fans were incredible." ___ With files from The Canadian Press. Yeezy Boost 350 Cheap Authentic . -- The Vancouver Whitecaps remained unbeaten with a scoreless draw at the New England Revolution on Saturday. Yeezy Boost 350 Wholesale . 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Walter Samuel and Rodrigo Palacio also scored for Inter while Lopez had a penalty saved.OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Heading into the off-season sooner than anticipated, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh took consolation in knowing he got the most out of his team and that it wont take much tinkering to correct its most obvious flaws.Despite a myriad of injuries, the hoopla surrounding the release of running back Ray Rice and the suspension of defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, the Ravens earned a spot in the post-season for the sixth time in seven years and beat Pittsburgh in the wild-card round before falling to top-seed New England 35-31 on Saturday night.They were the best team that they could be, though all the adversity, the challenges and even through the last game, Harbaugh said Tuesday. Im proud of those guys for that. Thats the best thing you can say about a group of guys, the coaches and the players.Harbaugh wont forget this bunch, but hes already turned his attention toward next season. Upcoming decisions for the franchise include whether to re-sign unrestricted free agents Torrey Smith and Justin Forsett, which direction to go in the draft and how deep to delve into the free agent market.The secondary was the teams most glaring flaw, but because six defensive backs ended the season on injured reserve, Harbaugh believes even that unit can improve without much help from the outside.Its really not an overhaul in the sense that everybodys going to be cleaned out and were going to bring a bunch of new guys in, he said. We have a lot of good players sitting there because of the fact that well be healthy and the fact that we brought some good players in because of what happened this year.The Ravens got solid contributions from rookies on both sides of the line, including Pro Bowl linebacker C.J. Mosley; defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan; offensive tackles James Hurst and John Urschel; and tight end Crockett Gillmore.Thats one reason why Harbaugh was upbeat about the future.Its pretty clear-cut some areas that we have to improve on, he said. But we have a solid foundation of a football team right now, young guys who have turned out to be good players. We have a number of good players going forward that are going to be here and we can build on that. Thats very exciting.He was particularly enthusiastic abouut the offensive front, which flourished despite injuries to Eugene Monroe and Rick Wagner.dddddddddddd.I think the future is really great for our offensive line, Harbaugh said. When we first came in here in 2008 we said wed start in the trenches, and we were pretty strong in the trenches this year. Thats the foundation of our team. We want to keep improving that and keep building on that. Weve got some really young players on both sides of the ball up front.Decisions on Smith (49 catches, 767 yards, 11 TDs) and Forsett (1,266 yards rushing) will be made during an organizational meeting in Florida later this month. But Harbaugh made it clear that he wants both of them back.I love Torrey. Hes been a huge part of what weve done since he got here, great for the community and all those things, made a ton of plays for us, Harbaugh said.Forsett made the loss of Rice less of an issue on the field by having the best season of his career.Well just have to see how that plays out, Harbaugh said. But I know one thing: If we can get him back, that would make our team stronger going into next year.Forsett is all for it.I would love to be a part of it, he said. This is an organization that first gave me my shot, my first real opportunity, and I would love to stay.The coaching staff should be intact in 2015, although Harbaugh acknowledged that secondary coach Steve Spagnuolo would be interviewing with the New York Giants about their defensive co-ordinator opening.Ravens offensive co-ordinator Gary Kubiak told the team he intends to return, and Harbaugh had no reason to believe that the head coaching vacancy in Denver would change Kubiaks mind.Hes very happy here. His family is happy here, Harbaugh said. I think all the coaches feel good about where theyre at right now. As far as I know, nothing has changed.Harbaugh can only hope his players improve their behaviour this off-season. Five were arrested before training camp started last year, and Harbaugh does not want a repeat performance.Everybodys going to be under a different type of scrutiny from here on out, and thats a good thing, he said. Its real, its serious, and they need to be aware of that.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '