miaowang123: The reigning French Open king Nadal is a 14-time Grand Slam c

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BARCELONA - I love the Grand Prix Final because it is the top six qualifiers in each discipline from the six qualifying Grand Prix events. Deon Bush Jersey . I love watching the practices where you can analyze and compare the skaters head to head against the seasons best. The competition is concentrated, streamlined and right to the point. The best six men to date, followed by the best six women, and so on. Its mid-point through the competitive season and we get a chance to look at where we stand. Canada will challenge for Gold in both Pairs and Ice Dance. Neither team goes in as the favourite on paper but both are capable of winning the title. Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford sit in the number 2 spot in the points race just behind Olympic Silver Medalists Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia. They sit ahead of another Russian pair and three very strong and rapidly emerging Chinese teams. I sat rinkside in Osaka, Japan for Megan and Erics second Grand Prix and to watch their short program was to see them take their skating to the next level. Their confidence and ease with their elements was clear. They were a commanding presence on the ice and for me, it was their best skate ever both technically and emotionally. Their strategy has always been to go for maximum difficulty which often meant giving up some points for polish and quality. What was noticeable was the ease with which they did their side-by-side triple lutzes. This is not a jump that any other pair team attempts. They used to land them without points for style. In Japan their triple lutzes were totally in sync with clean and powerful entries and exits and full marks for quality for the difficult jumps. It will take a short program like they had in Japan coupled with a Free Skate of equal quality to upset the Russians who have looked so impressive and spot on this season. In the Ice Dance there are three teams that have, with points and wins, separated themselves from the rest. Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates have a marginal points advantage over Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje and the rapidly improving French team Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizerone. Weaver and Poje have missed some levels technically this season and hitting those levels will likely make the difference in their quest for Gold here in Barcelona. After the recent NHK trophy Andrew said, We did make a couple of mistakes that we definitely want to fix before the Final. They are known to improve and refine as their season unfolds and they will have to show that development here to come away with the win. Canada is showing its depth in Ice Dance at the Final with Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier also competing here, as well as two young teams who are in the Junior Final. Mackenzie Bent and Garret MacKeen, who train with Piper and Paul in Scarborough, and Madeline Edwards and Zhao Kai Pang, who train in Burnaby, each have a gold and a silver on the Junior Circuit and are contenders here. Its worth noting that not only are many Canadian Dance teams achieving super results they are also coming from training centres in Canada. It was the case, for many years, that the only way to get high level training was to leave home and move to another country. These top teams are staying and thriving and this bodes well for the young local talent coming up as the coaching and training sites for Ice Dancers in Canada are rapidly developing and excelling on the world stage. The Canadian pairs team of Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau are in the Junior Final as the highest ranked team. Their strong technical elements and their consistency have allowed them to outpoint the rest of the field by quite a margin. They are both strong single skaters and are a well matched pair, a combination that not only is giving them significant success on the Junior Circuit but will also be of great benefit to them in the future as they develop as a Senior team. 15-year-old Roman Sadovsky is Canadas lone entry in singles in Barcelona and he is another young skater to keep your eye on. He has strong basics and performance qualities well beyond his years which allow him to stand out. His triple axel is developing nicely in practice but yet to become a regular fixture in competition. He did not need it to get here, as his other fine qualities got him to Barcelona but it will be an element that he will have to master to vault in the standings and contend for gold. Chase Daniel Jersey . -- Jim Furyk was 10 shots worse and right where he wanted to be Saturday in the BMW Championship. Kyle Fuller Jersey . - Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has nothing but good problems right now.Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Four-time champion Novak Djokovic, reigning titlist Stan Wawrinka and Japanese star Kei Nishikori highlighted Mondays fourth-round winners at the Australian Open. The world No. 1 Djokovic got past Luxembourg left-hander Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5, 7-5 in Mondays nightcap at Laver Arena to reach his 23rd consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. The seven-time Grand Slam champion and reigning Wimbledon titlist is seeking his fourth Aussie championship in five years, having captured three straight of his four Melbourne crowns from 2011-13. Up next for the great Djokovic, who has yet to drop a set through four matches here, will be eighth-seeded big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic, who is 0-4 lifetime against the Serb. Meanwhile, the fourth-seeded Swiss slugger Wawrinka pulled out a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8) victory over Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Garcia-Lopez won the first five points of the fourth-set tiebreak and had five chances to force a fifth set at Melbourne Park, but Wawrinka saved all five before moving on. Garcia-Lopez stunned Wawrinka in the first round at last years French Open. Wawrinkas quarterfinal opponent on Wednesday will be the fifth-seeded U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori, who handled ninth-seeded former French Open finalist David Ferrer of Spain 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 on Day 8 of the fortnight. Looking ahead to his clash with Wawrinka, Nishikori said, Its going to be a really tough match because I have seen him play on TV a couple of matches. Even today he was playing really good. He can hit balls forehand, backhand -- great backhand actually. He can hit from anywhere at the back. Its going to be a tough match. But obviously Im in the quarterfinals, so no easy matches comingg up. John Wirtel Jersey. . Hopefully I can play another good match. For sure it gives me confidence that I beat him in the U.S. Open. Its not like I cant beat him. Its going to be a fun match for sure. Nishikori made history as he became the first Asian man to contest a Grand Slam final last year when he defeated three Top-10 players, including Wawrinka in five sets in the quarters, to reach the U.S. Open final. The aforementioned Raonic had to outlast 12th-seeded Spanish lefty Feliciano Lopez, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, to reach the round of eight. Raonic became the first Canadian man in the Open Era to reach the Aussie Open quarters and is also the second Canadian man in history to reach three major quarterfinals, following in the footsteps of Robert Powell at Wimbledon in 1908, 10 and 12. Its great to be doing what Im doing and that it is making a difference, said Raonic. It is, I guess, part of some history, if you look really deep. But at the end of the day, at the same time, Im always pushing myself for what I want to achieve. Im always sort of looking in the mirror and saying, Thats who I have to compare myself to: to myself. The quarterfinals will commence Tuesday, as third-seeded former world No. 1 Rafael Nadal will take on seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych and sixth-seeded Andy Murray will battle heavy Aussie crowd favorite Nick Kyrgios. Nadal beat Berdych in the 2010 Wimbledon final and is 18-3 lifetime against the big Czech. The reigning French Open king Nadal is a 14-time Grand Slam champ, including an Aussie title in 2009. Hes also a two-time runner-up in Melbourne, including last year when he was stunned by Wawrinka in the final. Murray is a two-time major titlist whos lost in three Aussie Open finals. Wholeslae Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys Cheap Football Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap Baseball Jerseys ' ' '