second time Dec. 25 against Oklahoma City.Its been

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Former top-10 players Gael Monfils and Jurgen Melzer beat higher-ranked players Friday to advance to the Winston-Salem Open final. Monfils, the Frenchman ranked No. 43 in the world, overcame early struggles to beat 38th-ranked Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine 7-6 (11), 6-3 in the first semifinal at the Wake Forest Tennis Center. "Its very good for my confidence," said Monfils, who will play in his third tournament final of the season and his first since Nice, France, in mid-May. "Im not so happy with the way I played. I could have played better. I have to play better and be more sure of things." The 32nd-ranked Melzer, from Austria, then pulled off the biggest upset in the night match, beating American Sam Querrey -- at No. 29, the highest ranked player in the semifinals, and the crowd favourite -- 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. "Ive been serving well, and my ground strokes have been getting better from match to match," said Melzer, who also is playing in his third tournament final this season and his first since winning an ATP Challenger Tour event in Dallas in March. "After losing in the first round of my last two tournaments, if somebody would have told me I could be in the finals, I wouldve signed it." Monfils and Melzer each have four ATP tournament titles. Monfils holds a 4-0 lifetime record against Melzer, including a first-round victory in Munich in early May. "Every title means a lot," Melzer said. "Ive lost all the previous matches to him, so it will be a nice matchup tomorrow. Hopefully, I can pull it off, which would also be very good leading into the U.S. Open." Monfils -- ranked No. 7 in 2011 -- lost serve twice early and went down 4-0 in the first set to Dolgopolov. The Frenchman even received treatment on his left abdominal muscles and hip during the side exchange after the third game of the set. "I had a little pain before the match, and even during the match," said Monfils, who missed a month of action dealing with ankle and biceps injuries before playing in the final hard-court tournament before next weeks U.S. Open. "It was a bit better (after the trainer) worked on it, but I still felt it during the first set," he said. "Its not a tear, but its very tight. I just have to take care of it, and I should be fine." After the injury break, Monfils broke Dolgopolovs serve twice to force the tiebreaker and win the first set. He then added two more service breaks in the second set. "It wasnt my best finish," said Dolgopolov, a Ukrainian who was playing in his first semifinal this season. "I was in the game, but every game I didnt finish out those important points. Game by game, he came back. "I was angry at myself -- I had too many chances. When you have that in your mind, after having played three matches (in the tournament), its tough to make yourself go out and forget about it." Melzer -- ranked as high as No. 8 in 2011 -- broke Querreys serve five times, and kept him off-balance for most of the match with his ground strokes and net game. Still, Querrey fought back after losing the first set, getting a pair of service breaks en route to winning the second set. He then held serve to open the third set and grab the early advantage. "I felt like I played really well for 1 1/2 sets," said Melzer, who lost two previous matches against Querrey. "Then I kind of lost it a little bit, got a little too passive on my side and forgot about the game plan. I was lucky in the beginning of the third (set) to not get broken again. But after that, I started playing well again." Querrey nearly pulled off another service break to open the third set, putting Melzer down 15-40 in the second game. But Melzer fought back to hold serve, then broke Querreys serve the next game to take the advantage. "I didnt feel my greatest out there," Querrey said, who lost in the semifinals for the second straight year. "I played a little sloppy in the first set, then that break in the second (set) helped me regain all the momentum. If I couldve stuck that other break in the third set, maybe it couldve been different." Arizona Diamondbacks Shirts . He never mentioned anything about his hitting. The 33-year-old right-hander had success with both Sunday, pitching six solid innings and helping the offence-starved Mets with an RBI single as New York salvaged a doubleheader split with a 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Diamondbacks Jerseys China .com) - The Carolina Panthers won for the first time in seven games last week, were without Cam Newton due to a car accident this week, but somehow sit atop the much-maligned NFC South. https://www.cheapdiamondbacksjerseys.us/ . -- The way Ted Ligety carved into turns looked so easy. Arizona Diamondbacks Gear . -- So much for concern that running back Marshawn Lynch would be absent from the Seattle Seahawks minicamp. Arizona Diamondbacks Pro Shop . Iwakuma pitched seven strong innings to stay unbeaten in road games since last July, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker started but played just 13 minutes Tuesday night in a loss against the Detroit Pistons in his third attempt to get back on the court after straining his left hamstring.Parker had missed 13 games total since initially suffering the injury Dec. 5 at Memphis. Parker had missed five straight games since aggravating the injury for a second time Dec. 25 against Oklahoma City.Its been very frustrating, Parker said. Its never happened to me before for that long, but it happens. Hopefully its behind me and the last treatment I did is hopefully the good one and now I can put it behind me and just get back to playing and playing good basketball.Parker was 0-for-3 shooting and had just two assists, not playing in the second half, but he did not appear to aggravate the injury — great news for the defending NBA champion Spurs.ddddddddddddThe Pistons beat the Spurs 105-104 on a last-second shot.Parker did not talk to the media after the game.Coach Gregg Popovich, when asked if his point guard was OK, said, Yeah, hes healthy.He wanted to play, but Im being conservative, Popovich said. He had 13 minutes. Thats good after sitting out as long as he did; make sure he doesnt reinjure the thing.Parker initially attempted to return after three games, but returned to the sidelines.Parker said he has to do some extra stretching and warming up to try to prevent the problem from coming back.San Antonio was 6-7 overall without Parker. ' ' '