SYDNEY, Australia -- Former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova advanced to the Sydney International semifinals on Wednesday with a 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory over fellow Czech player Lucie Safarova. Kvitova, the second seed, will play the winner of the quarterfinal being played later Wednesday between Italys Sara Errani and Bulgarias Tsvetana Pironkova. In other womens play at the Australian Open warm-up tournament, defending champion Elena Vesnina retired from her second-round match at the Hobart International with a back injury. Spanish qualifier Estrella Cabeza Candela was leading the match 4-6, 6-2, 4-1 when Vesnina quit. Vesnina claimed her first WTA title in Hobart last year and was looking to become the first back-to-back winner in the events 21-year history. In mens play at Sydney, Australian wild card Marinko Matosevic upset third-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. Defending champion Bernard Tomic was scheduled to play his second-round match later Wednesday. At the ATPs Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand, American wild card Jack Sock got the biggest win of his career when he beat second-seeded Tommy Hass 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. The 21-year-old Sock is 14 years younger than Haas and his ranking is nearly 90 places lower than the 12th-ranked German. But Sock started strongly and got early breaks in both sets to pull off the upset. Sock will face Roberto Batista Agut in Thursdays quarterfinals after the Spaniard beat sixth-seeded Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 6-4. Third-seeded American John Isner also progressed to the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-2 win over Lucas Lacko of Slovakia. Isners participation in the tournament had been in doubt because of an ankle injury, but he seemed fit in a match that lasted nearly two hours. American qualifier Steve Johnson beat Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4 in a first-round match held over from Tuesday because of rain. In the mens exhibition tournament at Kooyong, former home of the Australian Open, Tomas Berdych, the No. 7-ranked Czech, beat Spains Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-2. The Australian Open begins on Monday at Melbourne Park. Edinson Volquez Jersey . -- When Steve Blake checked in at the scorers table with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter, Stephen Curry shook his head and shouted across the court, asking Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson not to take him out. Paul Splittorff Jersey . Six years of waiting are finally over for the Dallas defenceman. Daley had a goal and an assist, Kari Lehtonen recorded his fifth shutout of the season, and the Stars clinched their first playoff berth since 2008 with a 3-0 victory against the St. https://www.cheaproyals.com/297a-joe-bur...sey-royals.html. "If we only consider this season," Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said, "there is just one club in Manchester -- and its ours. Willie Aikens Jersey . Alfredo Simon lowered his ERA to 0.86, and the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1 Friday for their 16th win in their last 17 games at the Friendly Confines. Willie Wilson Jersey . David Perron had a career high four-point night with two goals and two assists as the Oilers experienced an offensive explosion, blasting the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-0 to record a rare home win for their second victory in a row. A rematch of last springs Eastern Conference final is on tap Saturday, as the Montreal Canadiens welcome the New York Rangers to the Bell Centre. You can listen to the game on TSN Radio 690 Montreal with coverage beginning at 6pm et. The Rangers ousted Montreal in six games for last seasons conference title before losing to the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Final. It marked New Yorks first trip to the Cup Finals since winning it all in 1994, while the Habs were denied a shot at playing on hockeys stage for the first time since their last championship in 93. Both the Blueshirts and Canadiens are teams built on speed, but New York boasts size as well as quickness. Montreal and New York also have two of games best goaltenders in Carey Price and Henrik Lundqvist. Price will face the Rangers for the first time since Game 1 of the conference finals. Montreals No. 1 goaltender was knocked out of the playoffs in that contest after suffering a knee injury when New York forward Chris Kreider crashed into him at the end of a breakaway. Although Kreider has insisted time and again the collision was unintentional, the winger will almost certainly receive an icy reception from Canadiens fans tonight. Not including that fateful playoff game, Price is 8-5-1 with a 2.06 goals against average in his career against the Rangers. Lundqvist, who expects to start for New York, is 13-11-2 with a 2.84 GAA in 27 regular-season appearances versus Montreal. The Canadiens enter the showdown with a 6-1-0 record and will shoot for a fourth consecutive victory on Saturday. Montreal is 3-0 so far on a four-game homestand and last played on Tuesday when it notched a 2-1 overtime win against Detroit. David Desharnais scored 56 seconds into the extra session to lift the Habs to victory over the Red Wings. After P.K. Subban fired a shot from above the left circle, Max Pacioretty took the rebound and had his wrister denied by Jimmy Howard. Desharnais gathered the loose puck at the left side of the net and swatted a backhander over a falling Howard for the game-winner. Alex Galchenyuk scored the game-tying goal with 3:09 to play in the third period and Price made 27 saves for the win. We have great character on this team, Galchenyuk said. In the third, we started going to the net andd it paid off for us.dddddddddddd. Montreal has won nine of its last 10 home games against the Rangers in the regular season and also claimed five of the past six encounters prior to last springs playoff meeting. The Rangers also enter Saturday with a shot at winning their fourth consecutive game. New York also posted an OT win in its last game, posting a 4-3 comeback win Tuesday night in New Jersey. New York trailed the Devils 3-1 early in the third period before rallying for the win. Kevin Kleins goal with 2:18 remaining in OT capped the furious comeback at Prudential Center. The Rangers forcing overtime on goals by Chris Mueller and Rick Nash and Lundqvist also helped bring on the extra session with a 28-save effort that included several key stops late in regulation. I am just really happy the way we came back, Lundqvist said. When they scored that third one, and the way their power play was playing, it was a tough, but we responded in a big way. It was a big two points for us. Kreider set up Kleins game-winner and scored earlier for New York, while Mueller also chipped in an assist in the Rangers triumph. New Yorks next game is against Minnesota on Monday when the Blueshirts kick off a four-game homestand. Montreal will begin a three-game road trip the same night in Edmonton. Also, the Canadiens will join the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs in coordinated pregame ceremonies prior to the start of their respective home games tonight. The teams will be honoring Canadian soldiers who were killed earlier this week. On Wednesday, a gunman shot and killed a Canadian solider standing guard at the National War Memorial, then entered Parliament before being shot to death. On Monday, a solider was killed as a man drove into him with a car at a building near Montreal. Rangers projected lineup: Kreider - Hayes - Nash Zuccarello - Brassard - St. Louis Hagelin - D. Moore - Duclair Glass - Mueller - Stempniak McDonagh - Girardi Staal - Klein Moore - Hunwick Lundqvist - starting Talbot Canadiens projected lineup: Pacioretty - Desharnais - Gallagher Galchenyuk - Plekanec - Parenteau Bourque - Eller - Weise Moen - Malhotra - Prust Emelin - Subban Markov - Gilbert Tinordi - Weaver Price - starting Tokarski ' ' '