PARIS -- Gilles Simon rallied to beat Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in an
all-French match in the first round of the Paris Masters on Monday.
Cheap
NFL Store .In their ninth career meeting dating back to 2007, Simon
cracked Benneteaus resistance in a tense first game of the deciding set and won
the next three to go 4-0 up.Juliens a very good player and you always have to be
wary of him, Simon said. It was a tough match and Im glad I reacted well to get
through.Benneteau had won three of their past four meetings, but Simon is now
5-4 ahead.He saved seven of eight break points and broke Benneteau three times
-- twice in the deciding set.The 23rd-ranked Simon has reached the Shanghai
Masters semifinals and the Miami Masters quarterfinals this season.Im trying to
finish the season strongly, the 31-year-old Simon said. Its always good to
finish well to get things going for next year.He next faces 10th-seeded Roberto
Bautista Agut and leads the Spaniard 3-1 overall.Bautista Agut is one of seven
players in Paris vying for the two remaining spots at the season-ending ATP
finals in London.Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic, who won the Swiss Indoors on
Sunday, had the last two places heading to Paris.Tomas Berdych, David Goffin,
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Lucas Pouille and Bautista Agut are the other contenders and
are also playing here.Berdych, who won the 2005 Paris Masters, must reach the
semifinals to qualify. He faces Portugals Joao Sousa on Tuesday and could then
face Bautista Agut in the third round.Tsonga faces Spaniard Albert
Ramos-Vinolas, who downed 36-year-old Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-1, 6-4 in
Mondays last match.Earlier, Frenchman Benoit Paires 14 aces were not enough as
Italian Paolo Lorenzi won 6-4, 7-6 (4).Lorenzi took his only chance on Paires
serve in the first set and saved the one break point he faced in the second. He
plays 16th-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain downed
Italian Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-1 and faces fourth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada,
who is feeling the effects of an ankle injury that forced him to withdraw ahead
of his China Open semifinal three weeks ago.Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, an
Australian Open finalist 10 years ago, won 6-2, 6-4 against Paul-Henri Mathieu
and faces 14th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.American Steve Johnson had
eight aces in a 6-4, 7-5 win against Guido Pella of Argentina, setting up a
match against 12th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet.Sousa saved all six chances
on his serve as he beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-4, while German Jan-Lennard
Struff did not concede a single chance on serve in a 6-1, 6-1 win against Illya
Marchenko.Spaniard Fernando Verdasco was up 6-2, 3-2 against Robin Haase when
the Dutchman retired with a left hip injury.Verdasco is up against second-ranked
Andy Murray, who will move top of the world rankings if he wins the tournament
and Novak Djokovic does not reach the final.Djokovic, whose 66 career titles
include a record 30 in Masters tournaments, is chasing his fourth straight title
in Paris and fifth overall.The Serb opens against either Nicolas Almagro of
Spain or Gilles Muller, who play their first-round match late on
Tuesday.Djokovic leads Almagro 4-0 and Muller 3-0 in career meetings, while
Murray is 11-1 against Verdasco.There are two other American players in Tuesdays
remaining first-round action.Big-serving John Inser takes on Mischa Zverev --
seven years after their other meeting -- and Jack Sock plays Philipp
Kohlschreiber for the first time.
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Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period.
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They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Duke coach David Cutcliffe need not have worried about AJ
Reeds confidence.After the freshman missed his first three college field goal
attempts, Cutcliffe talked this week about being concerned about Reeds body
language after his miss against Northwestern last week. He opted against trying
for a field goal with the score tied at 28 early in the fourth quarter,
explaining afterward he didnt think a field goal would be enough.But
fourth-and-goal with the ball on the 1-yard line, Notre Dame (1-3) with no
timeouts and 1:27 on the clock, he said he didnt hesitate to turn to Reed. The
result was a 38-35 upset of Notre Dame on Saturday.That unit there, they believe
in him and hes got a lot of talent. I know when it came down there at the end --
the field goal -- there was no doubt in my mind he was going to make it, he
said.Reed said he knew his teammates were behind him.They were all telling me
that they had my back and that they knew I was going to get it done for them, he
said.The kick made for a devastating second straight home loss for Notre Dame,
which started the season ranked No. 10 with hopes of vying for a playoff spot.
Coach Brian Kelly said afterward that nearly every position will be up for grabs
and said he might consider playing quarterback Brandon Wimbush, who he had hoped
to redshirt.I told our guys essentially that were going in the wrong direction.
Were not going to continue to go in this direction. Well have to re-evaluate
what were doing, who were doing it with, and how were doing it, he said.Daniel
Jones threw for three touchdowns, including a 64-yard scoring pass to Anthony
Nash midway through the fourth quarter to tie the score as Duke (2-2) beat the
Irish for just the second time in five tries. The first win was in their first
meeting, a 9-7 victory in Durham, North Carolina, in 1958. Jones was 24 of 32
passing for 290 yards and Duke rushed for 208 yards.I think we were, as a team,
executing at such a high level. We werent perfect by any stretch, but overall,
we were executing more consistently thhan we had been, Jones said.
Cheap
NFL Jerseys Authentic. Shaun Wilson returned a kickoff 96 yards for
a score to spark the Blue Devils after Notre Dame, which had struggled with big
deficits in two earlier losses , jumped to a 14-0 lead.The Irish defense
continued to struggle, giving up 30 or more points against Power Five teams for
the seventh time in their last nine games. The student section chanted Fire
VanGorder, referring to defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder.Kelly, who talked
about his frustration with the play of the defense a week earlier, said the
coaching of the defense is one of the few areas he wasnt disappointed in. He
said Duke was grittier and more determined than the Irish.THE TAKEAWAYDuke: The
Blue Devils defense continued to struggle to stop big plays, allowing 10 passes
of 20 yards or more. But they came up with the big plays when they had to,
forcing three turnovers while allowing one.Notre Dame: The Irish came out with
the sense of urgency Kelly preached all week after falling behind by double
digits in losses to Texas and Michigan State, jumping to a 14-0 lead. But they
couldnt keep the momentum going, and struggled to do anything consistently
well.QUOTABLEIn order to move forward from here theres going to have to be some
changes. What were doing isnt working right now, said Notre Dame quarterback
DeShone Kizer.INJURY UPDATECutcliffe said Duke safety DeVon Edwards, who has six
career kickoff returns for touchdowns and led the Blue Devils in tackles with 28
heading into the game, likely sustained a season-ending knee injury on a
kickoff.UP NEXTDuke: After back-to-back trips to the Midwest, the Blue Devils
return home to face Virginia, a team it has beaten in six of their last eight
meetings.Notre Dame: The Irish travel to East Rutherford, New Jersey, to play
Syracuse, the first of three neutral-site games they will play this
season.---Online: The APs college football page:
http://collegfootball.ap.org '
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