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• MONTREAL -- Canada was the heavy favourite heading into its Davis Cup tie against South Africa and the host nation showed why on the series opening day. Ras-I Dowling Jersey . Vasek Pospisil and Milos Raonic opened the best-of-five series with a pair of convincing wins at Uniprix Stadium on Friday as Canada took a commanding 2-0 lead. "We won six sets in a row and Vasek did well, coming out first," Canadian captain Martin Laurendeau said. "His outing in Vancouver (against France) was a long time ago. He was anxious to get back, have a great performance to get us a win and he did that really well. He set the tone and Milos backed it up." Pospisil beat Izak van der Merwe 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the first match of the afternoon against injury-riddled South Africa. The visitors were missing their highest-ranked player in Kevin Anderson (37th in the world) and saw Rik de Voest withdraw this week with a wrist injury. Pospisil had seven aces and broke van der Merwe four times. "It feels great, it feels incredible. I was obviously really, really happy to get through it," said Pospisil, of Vancouver. "These were really important matches for me. The Davis Cup is a lot of pressure, a lot of expectation and I care a lot about it so I really wanted to win, get that first match." Raonic followed that up by defeating Nikala Scholtz, who was playing in place of de Voest, 7-5, 6-4, 7-5. "I was very proud of Nik. I thought he did really well. To step up and play for your country on a big stage like this against someone who is top-15 in the world, theres a lot of guys that have frozen," said South Africa captain John Laffnie de Jager. "He came out and the longer the match went on, the more it looked like he felt he belonged there." Pospisil jumped out to a 2-0 lead in his opening set but van der Merwe rallied to tie it 2-2. The sixth game would prove to be a turning point. Ahead 3-2 but trailing 40-0, Pospisil fought back to take a two-game lead. He found his groove in the third set, jumping out a 3-1 advantage. Van der Merwe twice inched within a game but Pospisil held his ground. Making quick work of his opponent was important for Pospisil, who will be back on the court on Saturday afternoon with Daniel Nestor for the doubles match. "Obviously its great for me. When you have momentum like two sets-love you dont want to let the guy have a sniff at coming back," Pospisil said. "Those matches can shift momentum. Even if youre up two sets and youre in a great position, you lose that third set and maybe he starts to believe a little bit. "I was really happy to break in that third set, win in three straight and get some rest for tomorrow." Raonic, who is ranked 15th in the world, recorded 26 aces on the afternoon. His renowned serves gave him the edge, earning 17 points off his 28 second attempts. "I always say, you determine who has the best serve by the guy who has the biggest second serve. (Milos) was serving 220-224 (kilometres per hour) second serves," de Jager said. "Hes got unbelievable variety on his second serve and he follows it up with a big forehand." Raonic, of Thornhill, Ont., and Scholtz each held serve in the opening set until the Canadian broke Scholtz to go ahead 6-5. "I was a little bit disappointed not to get breaks earlier but at the same time, I was holding pretty comfortably so I knew it was just a matter of time before I got ahead," Raonic said. The 21-year-old dominated early in the second set but Scholtz made it interesting when he closed the gap to 5-4 and appeared on the verge of tying things up by taking a 30-0 lead. But Raonic rallied for four straight points to take the set 6-4. The players each held serve in the third set until Raonic broke Scholtz at 5-5 to secure the win. For Scholtz, in his second year playing for the University of Mississippi, the opportunity to play in his first Davis Cup against a player of Raonics calibre was one he wont soon forget. "Unbelievable, a great experience. Maybe one of the biggest days of my life," he said. "All credit to him, hes a great player. Definitely the biggest server Ive ever played against and might even ever play against." Canada needs just one more match win among the remaining three to secure its spot in the World Group. And while the task appears daunting, South Africa hasnt lost any hope. "The ties not over. A lot of teams have come back," de Jager said. "Our focus needs to be to get that one point tomorrow in the doubles and keep the tie alive, and then try to see what we can do Sunday." Jerod Mayo Jersey Limited . -- The Texas Rangers figure theyll be just fine if they keep focusing on themselves. LeGarrette Blount Patriots Jersey . In a "Bah humbug!" moment, Carmelo Anthony jokingly suggested the halftime music messed up the mood, offering that among a couple of reasons for the Knicks slow start Sunday. http://www.patriotsofficialteamstore.com/tavon-wilson-jersey/ . -- The Royals claimed off waivers right-hander Guillermo Moscoso from the Rockies and catcher Brett Hayes from the Marlins during a series of moves Friday. Stevan Ridley Red Jersey . -- Zack Greinkes first pitch in a Los Angeles Angels uniform was lined to left field for a single by Desmond Jennings, who had never faced him in a regular-season game. Elite Logan Mankins Jersey . The Italian rolled in 10 birdies in his first 15 holes in calm morning conditions on the Castle Stuart links course, but missed out on a chance to shoot the first ever 59 on the European Tour by finishing with three straight pars. TORONTO -- The Great One is optimistic about the NHLs labour situation. Wayne Gretzky said Monday that he believes the leagues current lockout will end before the showcase Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. "I believe in my heart, maybe because Im such a big hockey fan, that they will be playing by Jan. 1," said Gretzky during a question and answer period at a panel discussion on personal finance. "I think the hard part of their deal was the last negotiations (in 2004) of players agreeing to a salary cap. "Now that there is a salary cap in place, and revenue sharing, I see them ultimately getting a deal done here and I see them playing hockey this year." Detroit and Toronto are currently scheduled to play outdoors at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbour to kick off the new year. Gretzky was reluctant to analyzee the ongoing labour negotiations because hes not directly involved in them. Tim Tebow Patriots Jersey Youth. "The only thing I will say is the commissioners office and Donald Fehr and the players association are very smart men, theyre both very intelligent ..." said Gretzky. "Its a matter of sitting down and getting the deal done." The Hall of Fame centre and former part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes believes that the gap between the league and its players is smaller than in 2004, when the NHL lost an entire season. "I think that in 2004 we were changing the whole landscape," said Gretzky. "Ownership wanted to have some sort of revenue sharing and once we came to the revenue sharing, the hard part -- from my point of view -- seems to be out of the way. "Now its a question of working out the number that both sides think is fair." ' ' '

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