OEIRAS, Portugal -- Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., is through to the quarter-finals of the Portugal Open after posting a 6-3, 6-2 win over Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay on Thursday. It will be the fourth consecutive quarter-final appearance of the season for Raonic, who is looking for his first ATP Tour win on clay. Raonic, the world No. 9 and second seed at the tournament, will face Argentine Carlos Berlocq on Friday. Raonic lost just 11 points on serve in his 67 minute victory over Cuevas, five of which came on double faults. In womens action, Montreals Eugenie Bouchard was defeated 6-4, 6-1 in the quarter-finals by two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. Bouchard, ranked 18th in the world, took a 4-1 lead in the opening set, but went on to lose 11 of the final 12 games. In other matches, mens top seed Tomas Berdych strolled to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Somdev Devvarman of India. Other mens winners included Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, Gastao Elias of Portugal and Victor Hanescu of Romania. Top-seeded woman Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain beat Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-1, 6-3 to reach the semifinals. . -- So much for concern that running back Marshawn Lynch would be absent from the Seattle Seahawks minicamp. . -- Among the 31 players at the Montreal Canadiens rookie camp, none feels closer to cracking the NHL roster than right winger Aaron Palushaj.
http://www.airforce1storesale.com/fake- ... utlet.html. Freddie Roach said if the Rios fight "does not go well, we will seriously talk about his retirement," but that Pacquiao was training as well as ever for the Nov. . But qualifying for her first Scotties Tournament of Hearts after years of falling short in tough Manitoba provincial championships is as good as consolation prizes get for the 29-year-old from Winnipegs Fort Rouge Curling Club. . - After a back-and-forth battle throughout the season, Alex Guenette has earned the 2013 rookie of the year award for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 by just one point over Ryley Seibert. NEW YORK -- NFL owners likely will consider expanding the playoffs by two teams, beginning in 2015, when they hold their spring meetings in Orlando next week, but a vote on the subject is uncertain. A groundswell for raising the number of playoff qualifiers to seven in each conference figures to get plenty of support from the 32 owners. Most notably, Arizonas Bill Bidwill, who saw his Cardinals go 10-6 and not get in, while Green Bay (8-7-1) qualified by winning the NFC North. The current format of four division winners and two wild-card teams has existed since 2002, when Houston joined the league as an expansion team, bringing the membership to 32. "There will be a report on the potential of expanded playoffs," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Wednesday. "We dont know if there will be any vote at this meeting." Also on the agenda will be alterations to extra points, changing who oversees video replay reviews, and further clamping down on the use of racial slurs by players during games. A change in the playoff structure would be needed if 14 teams qualify, with the top seed in each conference still getting a first-round bye. The next six teams would play in what is now the wild-card round, with the second seed facing No. 7, the third seed taking on No. 6 and the fourth and fifth seeds playing each other. But the NFLs influential competition committee is not presenting a proposal to the owners. One reason the league is looking at more playoff teams is a stalemate in talks with the players union about expanding the regular season from 16 games. Another is the added revenue stream two more post-season games would provide, with those matches up for bidding among the current network partners -- Fox, NBC, ESPN and CBS, which just grabbed an eight-week Thursday night package -- and potential new broadcasters such as Turner Sports. Scheduling of the extra wild-card games also would be dicey, although Monday night would seem logical for one of them. Of course, adding two more playoff teamss enhances the chances for teams with .dddddddddddd.500 or losing records to get in. Commissioner Roger Goodell has suggested a change to the one-point kick on extra points might be needed because they have become so automatic. New England has proposed moving the line of scrimmage to the 25 for a one-point try, but leaving it at the 2-yard line for a 2-point conversion. "There are a lot of different views in respect to the extra point," said Falcons President Rich McKay, co-chairman of the competition committee. "There were 1,267 tried and 1,262 made (in 2013), and so there is that thought with the extra point maybe we need to add little more skill, and one of the ways to do it might be the way New England proposed." But its a long shot that anything will be done next week, except perhaps experimenting with longer kicks for one week of the preseason. The Patriots also proposed extending the height of the goal posts 5 feet to make it easier to determine whether a kick is good. New England also suggested allowing coaches challenges on everything except scoring plays, which are automatically reviewed. Replay as an officiating tool always is in the news, and owners are expected to discuss having the NFLs director of officiating, Dean Blandino and his staff at the league offices be involved in some review decisions. The league saw several inexplicable replay decisions made by referees last season, although McKay and Rams coach Jeff Fisher, the committees other co-chairman, praised the overall quality of officiating. As for the use of racial slurs and verbal abuse, there already are rules on the books to deal with the issue. But an emphasis on stronger discipline will be discussed by the owners, and McKay noted that taunting fouls went up significantly from 2012 to 2013. "We are going beyond the field of play, we are going to the workplace," Fisher said of trying to eliminate such language. "This is going to be a very significant point of emphasis." ' ' '
