Off Topic » n flags reminded him of what he was dealing with

TORONTO -- Roger Federer walked out of the tunnel for his opening match at the Rogers Cup, and the sight of Canadian flags reminded him of what he was dealing with against hometown boy Peter Polansky. Red-and-white "Go Canada Go" signs filled the crowd at Rexall Centre on a day four Canadian mens players took the court. By the end of the night, they all left the tournament. Vasek Pospisil lost to Richard Gasquet, Frank Dancevic fell to Donald Young, Brayden Schnur was defeated by Andreas Seppi, and Polansky was blown out by Federer. With Eugenie Bouchard losing to American qualifier Shelby Rogers in Montreal, it was a dark day for Canadian tennis that left Milos Raonic as the countrys only hope. On the mens side in Toronto, Pospisils loss was the most surprising. Only two days after losing to Raonic in the Citi Open final, the Vancouver native was hampered by a right leg injury and fell 7-5, 7-5 to Gasquet in a rematch from last week. "I think Im just a little bit tired mentally, maybe," Pospisil said. "Just been on the road a lot of weeks. You need to be a 100 per cent at this level if youre playing against Richard. I wasnt feeling 100 per cent today." Adding injury to insult on a rough day for Canadian tennis, Pospisil was set to have an MRI on an abductor injury, which seized up at 5-all in the first set. It also forced him to withdraw from doubles action, where he was set to team up with regular partner Jack Sock of the United States. Pospisil said he had been bothered by the "strange feeling" in his leg off and on for a few weeks but didnt think it would be a long-term problem that would keep him out of last nexts event in Cincinnati or the U.S. Open. As a home-country fan favourite, the crowd was understandably behind Pospisil as he gutted through the injury. "He has an extra motivation because its being home," Gasquet said. "Its the same when Im playing in France. But yeah he had big expectations on him, especially here in Toronto." The loss drops Pospisil out of the top 40 of the ATP rankings. He had been 27th, just short of his career-best ranking of 25th. "He has no weaknesses," Gasquet said of Pospisil. "He has a very big forehand, very big serve, so its always tough for me to play against these kind of players. ... I know its a difficult opponent for me, but I played a good match." Polansky getting out-classed by Federer was the least shocking result of the day. But after beating 2013 Wimbledon finalist Jerzy Janowicz on Monday night, Polansky was happy to get an opportunity to face the 17-time Grand Slam champion. "Even though I lost 2 and 0, still really enjoyable, had a lot of good points," Polansky said. "Obviously that was my first time playing someone of that level. But, yeah, I thought it was a good match overall." Federer said hes normally not heartless when facing an overmatched opponent but knew he needed to block that out. "You never know when it can shift," said Federer, who needed all of 53 minutes to polish off Polansky. "You feel a little bit and then you end up losing the match." Raonic is the last Canadian standing in singles play at the Rogers Cup, after the four mens losses in Toronto and defeats by Bouchard, Aleksandra Wozniak and Francoise Abanda on the womens side in Montreal. Raonic plays his first Rogers Cup match Wednesday night against Sock, who beat Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-3. Raonic beat Sock, a Nebraska native, in straight sets at Wimbledon and then again last week at the Citi Open in Washington. "Im definitely excited for tomorrow," Sock said of facing Raonic. "The juices will be flowing. He got me in my home country last week, so Im going to try to maybe get some revenge." Plenty of juices were flowing for Canadians in afternoon play in Toronto, but that wasnt enough. On the grandstand, the wheels fell off in the second set for Dancevic in a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 defeat to American Donald Young. Dancevic said Young did a good job of adapting to his game. "He just started reading my serve in the second and third set," Dancevic said. "I couldnt get any more free points on my serve, my serve percentage dropped down a little bit and he just started playing better and better as the match went on. ... I felt like it was difficult to find answers for him." Similarly, Schnur had no answers for Seppi, losing 6-3, 6-3 in his ATP World Tour debut. "He was just a little bit better at everything, really, than me," the 19-year-old Pickering, Ont., native said. "He kept the balls deeper at the end of the court, pushed me back, made a lot more balls that Im not used to seeing come back, and didnt let me attack so often, thats for sure, took away my weapons." Schnur and Seppi waited out a rain delay of more than two hours before beginning their match on the grandstand court at Rexall Centre. Schnur said that didnt help his fatigue, but he acknowledged it being part of his learning process. "Nerves are always in my system," Schnur said. "It slowly tires you out going in and out, in and out, warming up, having to cool down. But its something that Im learning to get used to." Schnur got used to being the fan favourite during his qualifying matches over the weekend. Fans encouraged him with shouts of, "Come on, Brayden," against Seppi, but the home-country advantage wasnt enough against the Italian veteran. "Obviously at important moments, he missed a few important shots," said Seppi, who advances to face Ivan Dodig, who upset 10th-seeded John Isner. "I knew (Schnur) could serve pretty well, and I think he didnt have so good percentage on the first serve, otherwise it would be for sure tougher. I think he can for sure play pretty well, especially on the hard courts. It was his first match, so I think he handled it really well." Schnur plans to play a futures event in Calgary next week before returning to school at the University of North Carolina. He considered these few days in Toronto a benefit for his career. "Its good to see what I can improve on," Schnur said. "I gained a lot of confidence in my game. I think I played a lot better, even though I lost." In other play, fast-rising star Nick Kyrgios beat Santiago Giraldo, 7-6 (3), 7-5 to set up a match with No. 8 seed Andy Murray, No. 11 seed Ernests Gulbis beat Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-4, No. 16 seed Fabio Fognini beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-3, No. 17 seed Tommy Robredo beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-6 (3), Ivo Karlovic beat Bernard Tomic 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6(6), Gael Monfils beat Radek Stepanek 6-3, 7-5, Malek Jaziri beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 7-6 (6), Gilles Simon beat Dominic Thiem 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, Yen-Hsun Lu beat Marcel Granollers 7-6 (6), 7-5 and third-seeded Stan Wawrinka defeated Benoit Paire 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2). Mike Alstott Womens Jersey . With a win tonight, Buehrle will match Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka for the most wins in the majors with 11. Buehrle is 10-4 with a 2.32 earned run average, but has lost his last three starts, including a 7-3 setback at Yankee Stadium last Wednesday. Warren Sapp Jersey . I kind of got a taste of being able to pick a suit with the draft lottery, I went with the bow tie. http://www.authenticbuccaneerspro.com/Jamel-dean-buccaneers-jersey/ . Appearing on TSN 690 Monday afternoon, Mike Babcock said he had conversations with both P.K. Subban and Carey Price about those on-ice traits during Hockey Canadas summer orientation camp. Mike Babcock: McGill experience, P. Anthony Nelson Buccaneers Jersey .com) - Nino Williams posted 18 points and seven rebounds, as Kansas State edged No. Mike Edwards Jersey . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. The U.S. wrestler and retired mixed martial artist says he was visiting his brothers farm in Saskatchewan and decided he wanted to hear what the premier had to say.DALLAS -- Dallas Stars centre Cody Eakin skated the length of the ice, got around a sliding defender, closed his eyes and shot just before his stick got ripped out of his hands. The top-seeded Anaheim Ducks can clearly see they are in quite a fight now. Eakin scored on Dallas first shot of the third period, Alex Goligoski scored on the next one 1:22 later and the Stars beat the Ducks 4-2 in Game 4 on Wednesday night to even the best-of-seven series. "Once I came around that D-man ... I saw a guy and there was a lane," Eakin said. "So, I just closed my eyes and shot." Even without captain Ryan Getzlaf, a surprise late scratch with an upper-body injury, and healthy scratch Teemu Selanne, the Ducks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. "Its not often we get outworked," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "But I thought after that, the last 40 was as hard as the boys could go. They emptied the tank." The Stars, who got physical at home after a pair of one-goal losses in Anaheim to start the series, are assured of playing another home game in their first playoff appearance since 2008. "All year weve been good at putting stuff behind us. Things havent been going well, weve been able to put periods behind us," Goligoski said. "We just stuck with the plan, kept going, kept getting in their zone and it paid off." Game 5 is Friday night in Anaheim, and the series returns Sunday to the American Airlines Center for Game 6. Stars captain Jaime Benn scored unassisted, his third goal of the series, off a faceoff 27 seconds into the second period. About 6 minutes later, Vernon Fiddler managed to get the puck in a small gap between the post and rookie goalie Frederick Andersen to tie it at 2. Getzlaf took a puck in the face in the series opener and played the last two games with a half-cage to protect the stitches just below his mouth. It wasnt clear if the upper-body injury was related to that, or was a different issue for the captain, and coach Bruce Boudreau wouldnt elaborate despite being asked about it several times. "It was a previous injury aggravated, but thats all Im going to say," said Boudreau, who downplayed the captains absence being deflating. "In the first period, it made us come out and do whatever we had to do." Bryan Allen scored on a shot from just inside the blue line with 7:43 left in the first period. Anaheim led 2-0 after Matthieuu Perreaults shot that hit Kari Lehtonens glove and fell over the goalies shoulder behind him.dddddddddddd The puck trickled in with help from Patrick Maroon, the left wing who got the goal after talking about retaliation against Dallas after what the Ducks had perceived as over-aggressive play. Just like Game 3, there were plenty of scrums Wednesday night. With 2:10 left, Anaheims Corey Perry and Antoine Roussel got in some big blows before being separated and given 5-minute majors for fighting. It was Roussel who punched Getzlaf in the previous game. There were also five 10-minute misconduct penalties in that closing stretch, and referees had to separate several groups of players when the game ended. "Thats the type of stuff thats their pushback, its our pushback," Ruff said. "I really feel like were in a playoff series now." Eakin hit the post in the opening minute of the third period, but didnt miss the go-ahead goal with 13:38 left. The raucous crowd was still in a frenzy when Fiddler backhanded a pass to Goligoski for a wrist shot that made it 4-2. "I felt a little bit off. It was a shock on the first one, and the second one snuck by me. I was expecting (Fiddler) to pass," Andersen said. " They came out of nowhere in the second. We werent ready for their push." Andersen was then pulled in favour of Jonas Hiller, the veteran goalie who won 29 games during the Ducks best regular season in franchise history before a late slump that left him on the bench until that point. Hiller faced only one shot in his 10 1/2 minutes, and Boudreau said he would discuss the goalie situation his assistants before deciding who starts Game 5. Lehtonen, who was 0-4 in post-season games before stopping 37 shots in Dallas 3-0 win on Monday night, had 21 saves Wednesday night. "Being able to tie this series, its huge," Lehtonen said. "I think were a confident group. ... And even more so now." Notes: The 43-year-old Selanne, who is in his 21st and expected to be his last NHL season, has appeared in a franchise-record 87 post-season games for the Ducks, 15 more than Getzlaf. Selanne also is the teams top post-season scorer with 64 points (33 goals, 31 assists), one more than Getzlaf (23 goals, 40 assists). ... Benn has also had an assist and has scored in each game. It appeared that he added an empty-net goal with 1:04 left, but play had been whistled dead. ' ' '