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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Gael Monfils is finally feeling good about his game. Hes winning, too. The Frenchman, once ranked among the worlds top 10 players, beat Spains Fernando Verdasco 6-7 (10), 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday night to advance to the Winston-Salem Open semifinals. The 43rd-ranked Monfils will face Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine, a 7-6 (7), 6-3 winner over Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan. "Its always good to be in the semifinals, especially after two big wins," Monfils said. "(Verdasco is) very aggressive, hitting lots of winners and making lots of mistakes. It makes you play a bit different." In the evening session at the Wake Forest Tennis Center, American Sam Querrey beat unseeded Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-3, 6-4 in the final hard-court tournament before next weeks U.S. Open. Monfils, a touring pro since 2004, was once ranked as high as No. 7 in the world at the end of the 2011 season. But a knee injury forced him to miss the final four months of the 2012 schedule, dropping him as low as No. 119 as he tried playing his way back into shape. Then, the Frenchman missed another month on the tour dealing with ankle and bicep injuries, with the Winston-Salem Open his first tournament action since the forced break. Against Verdasco, Monfils had key service breaks in the second and third sets to move into a tournament semifinal round for the fifth time this season. "Im pretty happy with how things are going," said Monfils, who had seven aces and just one double fault. "Hopefully, I can keep winning and try to get back into shape." In beating Lu, the 38th-ranked Dolgopolov overcame a knuckle injury on his left hand to advance to a semifinal for the first time this season. The right-handed Dolgopolov had to take an injury timeout in the fifth game of the second set after hitting his left thumb with the frame of his racket on a forehand shot. "I couldnt feel it much for a few games," Dolgopolov said. "It just aches -- not a hard pain, but it threw off my concentration a bit. Stuff like that happens. You have to deal with it and get back as fast as you can." Dolgopolov, who had a half-inch cut on the first knuckle of his left thumb, lost serve in that game. But he broke right back in the sixth game, then had another service break two games later. "I wasnt happy I lost the break," said Dolgopolov, who had nine aces against No. 62 Lu. "I was serving pretty solid all match, but after that, I gave away three points that he didnt do much to break. After that, I did pretty well for a few games." Querrey -- at No. 29, the highest ranked player remaining in the field -- advanced to a tournament semifinal for the third time this season, and his first since mid-February at San Jose, Calif. "I thought I played well -- the best Ive played so far," Querrey said. "I had that mental lapse in the second set, but I was fortunate there. I cant afford to have that happen tomorrow, but all around it was pretty good. Ive gotten a little better in each match, and I hope I can be even better tomorrow." Querrey finished with 10 aces, but struggled with his serve at times against the 126th-ranked Berankis. At one point in the second set, the two swapped service breaks in four straight games before Querrey served out the match. "I was just frustrated about those previous two service games," Querrey said. "He broke me in both of those, and that doesnt happen often. That last game, I turned the dial up a little bit. I wasnt going to be broken a third time, so I went with the gas right down the middle." Querrey will next face Austrias Jurgen Melzer, who beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-3 in a match that was delayed twice for rain, the second delay lasting just over an hour. The 32nd-ranked Melzer had only two aces to eight by Tursunov, but he broke the Russians serve four times -- three coming in the second set -- to advance to his third tournament semifinal this season and the first since winning in Dallas in March. "I felt like I hit the ball well, a lot better than I did the first two rounds," Melzer said. "(The rain delays) were tough, because I was in a really good rhythm. It was difficult, but I felt like I was in command of the game." Bobby Orr Jersey . The Raptors (15-15) posted six road victories last month and have won seven of their last nine games overall. Toronto visits the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Cam Neely Jersey . 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell. http://www.cheapbruinsjerseys.info/authe...-bruins-jersey/. TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie tweeted that its believed the Flames are working towards a new contract with the defenceman. Brad Marchand Jersey . Next years tournament is also within sight for Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has never played in a World Cup, but Cristiano Ronaldo looks destined for the playoffs with Portugal after a night when the qualifying picture in the nine groups became much clearer. Phil Esposito Jersey . Petersburg of the KHL. Belov was a free agent last summer when he signed a one-year contract with the Oilers. In 57 games this season he had one goal and six assists with 34 penalty minutes in Edmonton.NEW ORLEANS -- With a big fourth-quarter lead dwindling quickly, Pelicans coach Monty Williams called a timeout and told his team to run a play that would ensure Eric Gordon got the ball. As far as Williams was concerned, it wasnt so much great coaching as common sense, the way Gordon was shooting. Gordon drained a momentum-shifting 20-foot jumper that capped his 25-point outing, and New Orleans held on for its second straight victory, 104-98 over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night. "Thats the Eric that I know can be an All-Star-type player on a night-in and night-out basis just because hes not afraid to take big shots," Williams said. "We just put the ball in Erics hands and had him make a play. ... Erics really good at reading defences, so he comes out and hits a big shot and then we just got stops when we needed." Gordon hit 10 of 12 shots, including all three of his 3-point attempts. He also made both of his free throws. "Ive shown that I can score at any point during the game," Gordon said. "With me tonight, I was just hitting everything, basically." Jrue Holiday added 20 points and 12 assists, hitting a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute to give New Orleans more breathing room after its 19-point, fourth-quarter lead had been trimmed to six with nearly five minutes remaining. Holiday also did not turn the ball over, and the Pelicans finished with a season-low six turnovers. "Thats a good feeling," Holiday said. "I can go home and go to sleep tonight." Ryan Anderson scored 18 for New Orleans, which has won five of seven games, mostly without power forward Anthony Davis, who broke his left hand in the first quarter of the first game in that stretch. However, New Orleans lost guard Tyreke Evans, who aggravated a recent left ankle sprain on a drive in which he was fouled by Tony Allen the last seconds of the first half. "Just a little tweak," said Evans, who made two free throws after the injury, then sat out the second half. "Hopefullly Ill be back next game.dddddddddddd" Jon Leuer scored 19 and Mike Conley 18 for Memphis, which has lost two straight. Zach Randolph added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who were done in by a 21-3 Pelicans run that started in the last half of the third quarter. Memphis coach Dave Joerger said defending the Pelicans can be tough when Anderson, Holiday and Gordon are all playing well. "Good team on the perimeter," Joerger said. "There are times where Holiday and Gordon are able to make plays because we were trying to get out to Ryan Anderson so quickly that the gaps become big and those guys take advantage of those gaps." The Grizzlies were as close as 63-62 on Kosta Koufos 6-foot runner halfway through the third quarter, but Randolph went to the bench with his fourth foul soon after. New Orleans then started to dominate, going on a 21-3 run that gave the Pelicans their largest lead at 84-65 early in the fourth quarter. The surge included Gordons layup and 27-footer with a second left in the third quarter. Memphis nearly had an answer, though. Mike Millers free throws began a 15-3 run, which he capped with a 3 to cut it to 94-88 with 4:53 still left. Thats when Williams called timeout and put the game in Gordons hands. After his big shot, Holiday followed with a 9-foot floater, Al-Farouq Aminu sank a pair of clutch free throws and Holiday connected from 3. That put New Orleans ahead 103-93 with 54 seconds left, and Memphis could not recover. "They just hit shots toward the end of the game," Randolph said. "With them two guys -- Holiday and Eric -- in their backcourt, thats a pretty good backcourt, real good. They showed up tonight and hit big shots." Notes: The Grizzlies are 0-6 against Southwest Division opponents. ... New Orleans begins a five-game road trip at Denver on Sunday night. ... Memphis, which shot 50 per cent (40 of 80), lost for the first time in 18 games when shooting that well. ... The Pelicans shot 51.3 per cent (39 of 76). ' ' '