Brisbane, Australia (SportsNetwork. Stone Wilson Jersey .com) - A pair of top-three seeds -- Roger Federer and Milos Raonic -- recorded season-opening wins Thursday at the Brisbane International tennis event. The top-seeded Federer rallied from a set and a break down to come back to top game Aussie wild card John Millman 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in 2 hours, 2 minutes, while the third-seeded Raonic rolled past Kazakhstans Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-4 on the hardcourts at Queensland Tennis Centre. I thought I got quite lucky, Federer said on-court. He [Millman] was playing great tennis until maybe the last couple of games. I had to fight very hard. Credit to him for pushing me to the edge. I didnt play badly, but maybe felt a bit tired at times. The first match of the season you never know quite what to expect. I am sweating like crazy. I am happy we had a good match and I got through in the end. Federer lost to Aussie favorite Lleyton Hewitt in last years all-former-No. 1 Brisbane final. His quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be another Aussie wild card, James Duckworth, while Raonic will face Aussie Sam Groth. Meanwhile, Duckworth overcame Finnish veteran and 2008 Brisbane runner-up Jarkko Nieminen 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 and Groth outlasted Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3). Fridays other quarters will pit second-seeded U.S. Open runner-up Kei Nishikori against Aussie Bernard Tomic and fourth-seeded 2013 Brisbane runner- up Grigor Dimitrov versus Slovak Martin Klizan. Brisbane serves as a tune-up for the Australian Open, which will begin January 19 in Melbourne. Wesley Farnsworth Jersey . The 10-year deal the league and players agreed to that ended the 2011 lockout gave either side the right to opt out after six years. With the league projecting financial growth, there has been speculation that players will take that option in three years, especially since a new national TV contract will be in place by then. Kenneth Farrow Jersey . The visitors missed a host of good chances to win the game, and were left to rue substitute Ivo Ilicevics strike against the crossbar in the 86th minute, when he only had the goalkeeper to beat. http://www.wholesaledolphinsjerseys.com/?tag=youth-kyle-fuller-jersey . The NFL says Wednesday that the game between the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions at Wembley on Oct. 26 will start at 1:30 p.ALAMEDA, Calif. -- For a franchise with a frustrating history of post-season flops, the latest collapse sent the San Jose Sharks to a new low. The Sharks became the fourth team in NHL history to lose a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games, getting overwhelmed at home in a 5-1 loss in Game 7 on Wednesday night to start a pivotal off-season for a team looking to shed the label of playoff underachievers. "We obviously dont want to hear that kind of stuff, but what are we going to say? We were on the wrong side of history tonight," defenceman Brad Stuart said. "Its tough for us to argue with anything thats said. We let ourselves down, we let the fans down, we let everybody in our organization down. Its not a good feeling. Theres not really much else you can say about it." San Jose has the second most regular-season wins in the NHL the past 10 seasons but has never made it past the conference finals. There was the first-round loss to Anaheim in 2009 after posting the best record in the league in the regular season, second-round losses to inferior teams like Edmonton in 2006 and Dallas two years later, and three defeats in the conference final when that elusive Stanley Cup seemed so close. Yet this might have been the most bitter of all, considering it came against a fierce rival and after the Sharks looked so strong in taking a 3-0 series lead. "Every year you lose is pretty low, but this one is a type of series that will rip your heart out," forward Logan Couture said. "It hurts. Its going to be a long summer thinking about this one and what we let slip away." San Jose outscored the Kings 17-8 to win the first three games but was barely competitive in the final four contests. The Sharks were outscored 16-3 over the final 3 1/2 games to join Detroit (1942), Pittsburgh (1975) and Boston (2010) as the only teams to blow a 3-0 series lead. The only bright side might be that Detroit and Boston both won it all the year after their collapses. "Its just so disappointinng that we were able to go up 3-0 and not find a way to have that killer instinct, to find a way to scrape and claw and win games like they did," Couture said. Nick OLeary Jersey. "Its tough saying it, but I think the better team won the series. They were better than us." The Sharks took the day off Thursday to regroup before going through the annual routine of exit meetings and cleanup on Friday where they will start looking for answers for why they fell short once again. Defenceman Dan Boyle might leave as a free agent and forward Marty Havlat could have the final year of his contract bought out. But the biggest questions will be about the status of coach Todd McLellan and general manager Doug Wilson. While the Sharks did a good job dealing with injuries to finish tied for the fourth-most points in the regular season, they couldnt get it done in the playoffs. "Im in charge, Im responsible for the group that performs on the ice," McLellan said. "I have to accept that responsibility. When we break down the series, Im not going to throw any individuals or group of individuals under the bus, because we lost it collectively. But Im responsible for that group." The biggest issue was the lack of production from the top players in the final four games. Captain Joe Thornton, linemate Brent Burns and Couture had no points in the final four games and Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski didnt have a goal or an assist in the last three. The power-play went 0-for-15 in the final three games, including four blown chances in the second period of Game 7 when the Sharks were either ahead or tied. It added up to a second straight Game 7 loss to the Kings. "We were a lot closer last year than we were this year," McLellan said. "Were kidding ourselves if we think we were closer this year, just because it went
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