NEWS » mong the more prized blueliners about to hit fre

BEIJING, China - Rafael Nadal is back in form on the tennis court a€” and in his sharp-tongued critiques of the ATP tour.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. Yeezy Wholesale Authentic . The Brazil defender was substituted 13 minutes into Wednesdays 2-1 Copa del Rey win at Athletic Bilbao because of a right hamstring problem. Scans revealed a second grade tear which could keep him out for a reported four to six weeks. Cheapest Yeezys For Sale . -- Thirty years ago, the Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets 186-184 in triple overtime, a game that remains the highest scoring in NBA history. http://www.discountyeezy.com/. The Thornhill, Ont., native, who is ranked 11th in the world, said hed hoped he would be ready when Canada begins its World Group first-round tie against Japan in Tokyo on Friday. Cheap Yeezy Shoes For Sale .J. Ellis hit an RBI single in the ninth inning, Hanley Ramirez hit a tape-measure, three-run homer in the first against Cliff Lee and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Saturday night. Real Cheap Yeezys .C. - Canadian ice dancing, it seems, is in good hands.The Edmonton Oilers picked up veteran scoring winger Teddy Purcell, sending Sam Gagner to Tampa Bay, who then flipped Gagner to Arizona in a move to clear cap space. Numbers Game breaks down the pieces involved in these two deals. The Oilers Get: RW Teddy Purcell. Purcell, 28, is a skilled winger with good size, though he doesnt always use that size to his maximum advantage. Hes missed a total of three games over the past four seasons and his 194 points over that time ranks 57th in the league. Hes a productive player. A fine complement to other skilled forwards, Purcell has posted strong relative posession stats, enough that hes a solid fit as a second-line winger. How that fits with the current Oilers roster is an interesting question, at the very least. With Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, David Perron and Nail Yakupov on board, adding Purcell to the mix does give the Oilers plenty of scoring wingers, though they are now looking at a presumed hole at second-line centre, unless the Oilers are already projecting third overall pick Leon Draisaitl into that spot. Purcell has two years remaining on a contract that comes with a $4.5-million cap hit; no bargain, but not unreasonable for a top-six forward. The Coyotes Get: C Sam Gagner and RW B.J. Crombeen. Gagner is a 24-year-old who has never surpassed the 49 points that he scored as a rookie, but is also the second-leading scorer from the 2007 Draft class, behind only first overall pick Patrick Kane. Its certainly possible that Gagner can recover his game, because hes still relatively young, but hes been a possession disaster over the past couple seasons and at least part of that reflects his defensive shortcomings. Where this fits for Arizona is that they have two-way centres that can effectively protect Gagner. With Martin Hanzal and Antoine Vermette available to face tougher match-ups, Gagner can be utilized in a role that focuses on offensive production. Since the Coyotes just bought out Mike Ribeiro, its conceivable that Gagner could take over those minutes and Ribeiro started a higher percentage of his shifts in the offensive zone (minimum 40 games played) than anyone in the league last season. If the Coyotes are going to maximize Gagners production, they could also give him that offensive role and add a free agent winger to further upgrade their skill level. Former Oilers RW Ales Hemsky is a free agent, but Jussi Jokinen, Matt Moulson and Mike Cammalleri are other options that could have some appeal. Gagner has two years left on hiss contract, at a cap hit of $4.dddddddddddd.8-million, and will get $5-million per season in actual salary, with the Lightning retaining one-third the cost as part of the trade. More on that in a moment. Crombeen is a 28-year-old winger who has has 90 fights and 49 points in 265 games over the past six-plus seasons. Hes generally a subpar possession player, but not so much so that he cant handle a regular shift on the fourth line. Heading into the final year of his contract, Crombeen brings a cap hit of $1.15-million, and gives the Coyotes an enforcer that they can keep in the lineup on at least a semi-regular basis. The Lightning Get: A sixth-round pick in 2015. In the immediate aftermath of the Gagner-for-Purcell swap, the Lightning Tweeted that Gagner was going to be bought-out, which makes sense considering the Lightnings decision to retain salary as part of the deal with Arizona. Since Gagner is under 26-years-old, a buyout would cost one-third the value of his contract, so the Coyotes jumped in, before Gagner hit the open market, and by taking on Crombeens salary, gave the Lightning a little increased financial flexibility as they prepare for free agency on July 1. With more room to maneuver under the cap, the Lightning could go in a couple directions. They could go after a scoring winger -- Jarome Iginla, Thomas Vanek and Mike Cammalleri are some options -- a veteran to complement a young and promising group of Tampa Bay forwards, or they could spend that money on defence. Former Lightning D Dan Boyle could be one target, but Christian Ehrhoff, Mark Fayne, Anton Stralman and Matt Niskanen are among the more prized blueliners about to hit free agency. A sixth-round pick brings with it about a 15% chance of yielding an NHL player, so not great value, but a token price for taking on Crombeens contract. In a separate deal, the Lightning also moved Nate Thompson to Anaheim, acquiring fourth and seventh-round picks in 2015. The picks bring a little less than a 30% chance of an NHL player, but the Lightning clear Thompsons $1.6-million per season for the next three years off the books. Essentially the Oilers, and especially the Lightning look like they are making moves to set up something else, other moves to make this offseason, while the Coyotes took advantage of an opportunity and filled a hole in their lineup at a very reasonable cost. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '