MASON, Ohio -- Fresh off their inspired performances at the Rogers Cup, Canadians Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil are into the second round of the Western & Southern Open. Raonic, who dropped Sundays final in Montreal to Rafael Nadal, defeated Jack Sock 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday night to advance at the tournament just outside Cincinnati. "Mentally I felt good, it was a bit about getting used to the conditions and the environment," Raonic said of his slow start against the American. "I stuck through it and in the second set I stayed positive and started to play a bit more aggressive. The 12th seed from Thornhill, Ont., Raonic lost to Sock in Memphis in February after winning in San Jose the previous week for the third year running. Raonic, now ranked a career-high 10th on the ATP Tour after beating Pospisil in the Rogers Cup semifinals, disposed of Sock in just under two hours. He will meet Serbias Janko Tipsarevic in the next round. "Tipsarevic will be a tough opponent," said Raonic. "Ive got to keep doing what Ive been doing, clean up my service games a bit and get better at closing it out." Pospisil, now also ranked a career-best at No. 40, advanced when Frances Gilles Simon retired with an injury. Simon was trailing 6-3, 1-1 when he ended the match. "It was a strange match," Pospisil said. "I started out well but I noticed that something was going on with him, I think it might have been the hip. "It was difficult to play from that point. It was fortunate for me and unfortunate for him." The Vernon, B.C., native needed just 36 minutes to sweep the opening set against Simon, who lost his fifth match in a row and hasnt won since mid-June. Pospisil faces Belgiums David Goffin in the next round. "The match will be tough and I dont see a clear favourite," Pospisil said. "Hes a dangerous player, very talented, and has beaten some top players. Well have to see." Meanwhile, defending mens champion and fifth-seeded Roger Federer advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) win over 29th-ranked Philipp Kohlschreiber. "It was just really important to play somewhat of a clean match," said Federer, who already has won a record five W&S championships and improved to 7-0 in his career against Kohlschreiber. "Straight sets is always a good match. Its a good win for me." John Isner defeated Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4, and Grigor Dimitrov defeated Brian Baker 6-3, 6-2. Third-seeded David Ferrer edged Ryan Harrison 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4. On the womens side, Maria Sharapovas return to WTA tournament play after more than a month away was short-lived following an upset loss to 17th-ranked American Sloane Stephens 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3. In a match that lasted two hours 22 minutes, Stephens overcame double faults on two match points to pick up her first victory over Sharapova in four meetings. "It definitely started out rough," Stephens said. "A set and 0-2, she was killing it. Im glad I was able to turn it around and start playing good tennis." Sharapova, the 2011 W&S champion and a 2010 finalist, showed no traces of the hip injury that had kept her sidelined since a second-round loss at Wimbledon. "I thought I started the match off pretty well, but when you put yourself in a really good position, you cant let it go," Sharapova said. "Thats what I did tonight. I didnt continue what I was doing well for the first set and a half, and that hurt me. "You know, I stopped being patient. I started making a lot more errors, especially off the first ball -- just errors that I shouldnt make. Obviously I havent played in a long time, but I cant make that excuse for myself because Ive got to be ready from the first match. So its obviously disappointing, but thats the way it goes in this game." Jimmy Connors, who won the tournament 41 years ago, watched from the stands in his first match as Sharapovas coach. She hired Connors, the 1972 champion and a 1986 finalist, in mid-July. Fourteenth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, the 2009 champion and 2011 runner-up, advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-2 win over Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisiski. In earlier action, second-seeded Victoria Azarenka held off an upset bid by qualifier Vania King to pull out a 6-1, 7-6 (6) win and advance to the third round. Azarenka rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the second set to force the tiebreaker against the 140th-ranked American. Azarenka, who has been bothered by a lower back injury, won her first match since losing to Samantha Stosur in the finals of the Southern California Open two weeks ago. "I think the beginning of the second set wasnt very good for me," Azarenka said. "There were quite a few unforced errors and just really fast mistakes, which didnt happen in the first set." Varvara Lepchenko advanced with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 win over Flavia Pennetta, and Jamie Hampton needed three sets to overcome Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Alize Cornet rallied past Ana Ivanovic 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4. Sorana Cirstea, the 21st-ranked Romanian who lost to No. 1 Serena Williams in the finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Sunday, withdrew from her first-round match against Yanina Wickmayer. Cirstea was replaced by No. 43 Monica Niculescu, who lost in this past weekends qualifying but stayed around in case a spot opened up in the singles main draw and to play doubles. The Romanian capitalized on her second chance with a 6-1, 6-2 win over the 58th-ranked Wickmayer. No. 10 seed Caroline Wozniacki easily advanced with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Shuai Peng. Marc-Andre Fleury Jersey . The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Lions have not announced the hiring, which was first reported by ESPN. 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Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Russia won a hard-fought contest against France to take Olympic womens handball gold Saturday, drawing motivation from a speech by coach Evgeny Trefilov that emphasized the teams underdog status.Neither of the finalists had been among the pre-tournament favorites -- the French had never won an Olympic medal and Russia was emerging from a prolonged rebuilding effort. That all changed when Russia toppled two-time defending gold medalist Norway and France upset the Netherlands in the semifinals.We knew we didnt have the right to lose. We got fired up, prepared very seriously, Russias Ekaterina Ilina said. (Trefilov) told us the French were happy to be playing us (instead of Norway), and that got us really angry.The team took the message to heart, grinding out a 22-19 victory at Future Arena that was the lowest-scoring final in Olympic womens history.Russia held a small lead for much of the game, and would have scored more if not for some spectacular saves by the French goalkeepers. Russias Anna Vyakhireva was the top scorer with five goals. France had several key players struggling with injuries.Trefilov led Russia to four world championship titles between 2001 and 2009, but Olympic gold eluded his team, with only a second-place finish in 2008. The team declined sharply after he left, but Trefilov returned in 2013 to turn things around. That meant a fifth-place world championship finish last year, but Olympic goold never seemed in the cards.ddddddddddddMovement was the key for Russias miniature team against physically stronger France, he said. If youre small, you need to run away.Trefilov has drawn attention for his colorful outbursts during the Olympics.After one tight win in the group stage, Trefilov said he had wanted to hang everyone in the Russian dressing room at halftime. He was more relaxed following Saturdays win, but it didnt take long for him to return to his usual eccentric style, with praise for Brazilian food and a tirade against foreign coaches in Russian soccer.They wont fight for Russia, he said. In Russia we need a Russian coach.For France, the final was an unexpected success, and center-back Tamara Horacek said she hoped it would plant a seed of future growth.It was an exceptional game. We are happy. Of course we wanted the gold medal, she said. This arena is called the Future Arena, and regarding our future, I think nothing can stop us now.Earlier, Norway recovered from its semifinal loss to win the bronze medal, cruising to a 36-26 win over the Netherlands in a repeat of last years world championship final. Tournament top scorer Nora Mork had seven goals to take her total in Rio to 62.France plays Denmark in the mens final Sunday, after a bronze medal game between Germany and Poland. ' ' '
