Campus Maximus » 1st in the 22-car field because he brushed a w

Melbourne, Australia - World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and defending champion Stan Wawrinka both breezed into the third round at the Australian Open on Thursday. The four-time Aussie titlist Djokovic won the first nine games and needed just 84 minutes to dispose of Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena. Overall I executed the game plan, said Djokovic. Everything I intended to do, almost 100 percent, from every second in my game, serve, baseline play, aggressive shots and aggressive returns. He [Kuznetsov] dropped his first-serve percentage a lot in the second set and obviously allowed me to have a lot of looks at the second serves. That, as well, gave me an opportunity to step in and just swing through the ball. The reigning Wimbledon champion Djokovic captured three straight Aussie crowns from 2011-13. His next step toward becoming the second man to win five Aussie Open titles will come Saturday against 31st-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who handled Japans Go Soeda 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) at Melbourne Park. The fourth-seeded Wawrinka extended his winning streak at this major to nine with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over Romanian qualifier Marius Copil. The tight affair saw the champ win just four more points than the game Copil, playing in his first Grand Slam main draw. It was quite a tough match, said Wawrinka. Happy to get through, especially in three sets. Condition wasnt easy today. Quite hot, really fast on the court, and he was playing great. He was serving big, putting lots of pressure. Wasnt playing my best tennis, but Im happy the way I fight today. Wawrinka has reached the third round in Melbourne seven years running. His next opponent will be Finnish left-hander Jarkko Nieminen. Fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori fell behind early against Croat Ivan Dodig, but wound up pulling out a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) victory, while eighth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic topped American Donald Young 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 and ninth-seeded former French Open runner-up David Ferrer overcame Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Feliciano Lopez, seeded 12th, trailed by two sets to Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, staved off a match point in the third and advanced when Mannarino retired due to heat exhaustion in the fourth. Lopez was leading 4-0 in the fourth prior to Mannarino calling it quits, as Lopez moved on in 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 4-0 fashion. American John Isner reached the round of 32 with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4 decision over Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer. The 19th-seeded Isner avoided a date with No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut, who was ousted by Luxembourgs Gilles Muller 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 on Day 4. In other second-round action involving seeds, 6-foot-8 Pole Jerzy Janowicz upended No. 17 Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-4, 1-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3, No. 18 Frenchman Gilles Simon bested Spaniard Marcel Granollers 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4, and American Steve Johnson pulled off a mild upset with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 pasting of No. 30 Colombian Santiago Giraldo. Johnson will next square off against Nishikori, last years U.S. Open runner-up. Also on Thursday, Nieminen doused German Matthias Bachinger 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 7-5; Canadas Vasek Pospisil overcame Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4; Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez bested Colombian Alejandro Gonzalez 6-1, 6-3, 6-3; and German Benjamin Becker came all the way back to dismiss long-time Aussie favorite Lleyton Hewitt 2-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The 33-year-old former world No. 1 Hewitt is a two-time Grand Slam champion and former Aussie Open runner-up. Becker should have his hands full with the big- serving Raonic on Saturday. The third round will get underway Friday, as second-seeded former world No. 1 Roger Federer will face Italian Andreas Seppi, third-seeded former top-ranked star Rafael Nadal will battle Israeli Dudi Sela and sixth-seeded three-time Aussie Open runner-up Andy Murray will tangle with Portuguese Joao Sousa. Federer owns 17 a mens-record major titles, including four at the Aussie Open. The 14-time Grand Slam winner and reigning French Open king Nadal beat Federer in the 2009 final and is a two-time runner-up here, including last year when he was stunned by Wawrinka in the finale. Also on Day 5, seventh-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych will take on Serb Viktor Troicki and 10th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov will be opposed by former Melbourne runner-up Marcos Baghdatis. Cheap Nike Air Max Womens Shoes . -- Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale searched more than three quarters for five guys who would play well together. Cheap Nike Air Max Mens Shoes . The Red Sox maintained a share of the AL wild-card lead Tuesday night, using four home runs to beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-7 and set up a dramatic conclusion to the regular season. The skidding Red Sox were 6-19 this month before rebounding to edge the last-place Orioles. http://www.cheapairmaxshoeswholesale.com/. He was still a kid, going into his senior year of high school. Thursday, the point guard stood in front of a couple dozen members of the media and spoke with poise about how much hed grown since then, and how hes ready for the next level. Wholesale Air Max Shoes Free Shipping . - The Denver Broncos kept rookie wide receiver Tavarres King from joining the Green Bay Packers by promoting him to their active roster Tuesday. Cheap Air Max Shoes Free Shipping . Auld made 37 saves in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. It was Ottawas first game without starter Anderson, who is out indefinitely after cutting his hand Wednesday night, and it was evident the team wasnt sure how to deal with the change in goal.DETROIT -- Will Power gave Roger Penske and Chevrolet what they desperately wanted by winning the first of two races at the Detroit Grand Prix. "On his home track and in Chevys backyard, its a perfect day," Power said Saturday. "If we can do it again tomorrow, itll be even better." Power finished 0.3308 seconds ahead of Graham Rahal on the bumpy, 13-turn, 2.36-mile street circuit on Belle Isle. He started a season-worst 16th and took the lead for good with just more than 10 laps to go when he passed Ryan Briscoe. "Theres no way we thought we would come from 16th to win," he said. "But this is IndyCar and anything can happen." The Australian held off Rahal to join Indianapolis 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay as the series drivers with two victories through six races. Power pulled within three points of Hunter-Reay, IndyCars points leader. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ont., finished in sixth place. Power, who won IndyCars season-opening race, has 23 career victories to break a tie with Emerson Fittipaldi and Tony Bettenhausen and to match Tommy Milton for 18th on the all-time list. His latest victory was especially sweet for Penske and Chevy. Penske had not won an open-wheel race in the area he calls home since Helio Castroneves finished first in 2001. "Its sure a great piece of satisfaction for me to see this happen," Penske acknowledged. And for Chevy, which sponsors the race, it was a good day after being relegated to watching Honda dominate the previous three races over the last two years in the shadow of its world headquarters. "We swept the podium in 2012," Art St. Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development, said a few hours before Saturdays race. "We won both races last year, swept the podium in one race and had two of the three spots in the other race "There are a lot oof Chevy folks here, so you do walk around with your chest puffed out a little bit more.dddddddddddd" After the 70-lap race, Honda had to settle for Rahals second-place finish as its only driver on the podium. Rahal, whose only career victory was in 2008, had finished no better than 13th this year. "Its a great day for us with the year weve had and the luck weve had," Rahal said. Tony Kanaan was a season-best third followed by Justin Wilson and Castroneves, who was the pole-sitter and led a race-high 30 laps Saturday. "I wish I could relax," Kanaan said "My mind is already going on what I have to do tomorrow." Hunter-Reay, meanwhile, failed to follow up the biggest win of his career with a 16th-place finish. He was on the last lap, but did not make it to the finish line because he spun into a tire wall to end the race. He started 21st in the 22-car field because he brushed a wall on his second lap during Saturday mornings qualifying session. "We had a rough day overall," Hunter-Reay said. Simon Pagenaud and Mike Conway each won last year on Belle Isle and both lost their shot to win early Saturday. Pagenaud damaged his front left suspension when he ran into the back of Power, leading to a yellow. "I didnt even know where Pagenaud was," Power insisted. Conway did not have any one around him when he appeared to understeer into a wall on Lap 15, putting the race under caution. Both will get another shot to repeat at the Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday as part of IndyCars first of three doubleheaders this season. While Penske was thrilled with the victory after Castroneves was barely beaten by Hunter-Reays Honda-powered car last Sunday at the Indy 500, he knew there were fewer than 24 hours to celebrate before the next race on Sunday. "We all start from ground zero," he said. ' ' '