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Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Four-time champion Novak Djokovic handled Milos Raonic, while Stan Wawrinka kept his hopes of a repeat Australian Open title alive by besting fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori in straight sets on Wednesday. The world No. 1 Djokovic dismissed the eighth-seeded Canadian star Raonic 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2, while the fourth-seeded Wawrinka fired 20 aces and was broken just once in a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) quarterfinal victory over the U.S. Open runner-up Nishikori at Rod Laver Arena. The 27-year-old Djokovic is bidding to become the second man in history to win the Australian Open for the fifth time, joining Roy Emerson. The Belgrade native won his first major title in Melbourne in 2008 and followed with three successive victories in 2011-13. He has a 48-6 match record at Melbourne Park. Djokovic has still yet to drop a set in his ruthless run at this 2015 fortnight. He is through to his 25th Grand Slam semifinal, one behind Andre Agassi for the fourth most in the Open Era. Djokovic improved to 5-0 against Raonic, as he doused the Canadian in two hours. The Serb was not at his best in the first set, not quite finding his timing under the lights at Laver. But a costly forehand unforced error from Raonic at 5-6 in the tiebreak -- having just saved two set points -- gifted the Serb the opener. From there, Djokovic was clinical. He lost just two points on serve in each of the second and third sets, while breaking Raonic three times in total. It was a close first set, but I thought I had more chances in the first set than him, said Djokovic. Managed to stay tough in the right moments and win the crucial first set. Obviously winning it in a tiebreak and making the break of serve first game of the second set was definitely huge really for me. I could start swinging through a little bit more, be more aggressive into the court. After that first game of the second set I played a great match. The 24-year-old Raonic was looking to become the first Canadian in history to reach the Aussie Open semis. The Toronto native reached his first Grand Slam semi last year at Wimbledon, losing to Roger Federer. I just think [the first set] gave him a bit more belief, said Raonic. I wish I would have served better in certain moments, but I didnt lose because of my serve. He just didnt allow me to organize my game. Even when he was returning well, by the end of the match he was doing a good job of playing deep and never allowing me to go forward. Obviously if you watch the footage, he was pretty much on the baseline the whole time and I was further back. The reigning Wimbledon champion Djokovic is seeking an eighth Grand Slam title. A five-set thriller was played between Wawrinka and Nishikori at last years U.S. Open, and it was Nishikori who survived a 4-hour, 15-minute marathon. The evenly-matched opponents were on the court for less than half that on Wednesday. The defending champ Wawrinka dominated the first set and did not face a break point until he was serving out the second ahead 5-4. Nishikori had three chances at pulling even, but Wawrinkas overpowering serve closed it out. Nishikori finally earned a break early in the third, but Wawrinka countered with one of his own at love. Three aces early in the tiebreak helped Wawrinka jump out to a healthy 6-1 lead. After staving off five match points, Nishikori hit a drop shot that fell into the net, and Wawrinka finished him off with another big ace. On Friday, fans will be hoping for another epic when Djokovic faces Wawrinka for the third year in a row at Melbourne Park. Two years ago, Djokovic denied Wawrinka 12-10 in the fifth set of a fourth-round clash, but last year the Swiss got his revenge with a 9-7 fifth-set victory in the quarterfinals. I take a lot of confidence [into the match], said Djokovic. I try to carry that in every next match, next challenge. Obviously Im going to play Stan, who is the defending champion here. We played five-set matches at the 2013 and 14 Australian Opens. Im going to be ready for a fight. But knowing that I have raised the level of performance tonight, and probably playing the best match of the tournament so far is affecting my confidence in a positive way. Hopefully I can carry that into next one. Djokovic is 16-3 lifetime against Wawrinka, including a 3-1 record at the majors. The first mens semifinal will be staged on Thursday when sixth-seeded Andy Murray takes on seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych. The big Czech is 6-4 lifetime against Murray, including 1-1 at the Slams. Murray is a two-time Grand Slam champion and three-time Aussie Open runner-up, while Berdych is a former Wimbledon finalist. John Brown Ravens Jersey . The Raptors (15-15) posted six road victories last month and have won seven of their last nine games overall. 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LOUIS -- Bill Self gathered his team around the bench late in Fridays game against Eastern Kentucky, one that had grown a bit too close for comfort for the second-seeded Jayhawks. His team had gone back to chucking up jumpers, the scrappy Ohio Valley Conference champions had regained the lead, and thoughts of Mercers upset of Duke earlier in the day were on everyones mind. "I thought we responded as a group," Self said. The Jayhawks resumed pounding away inside out of the timeout, slowly took control down the stretch and pulled away for an 80-69 victory in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Andrew Wiggins of Vaughan, Ont., had 19 points for the Jayhawks (25-9), who will play No. 10 seed Stanford on Sunday in the South Regional. Jamari Traylor added 17 points and 14 rebounds, Perry Ellis had 14 points and 13 boards and Tarik Black finished with 12 points as Kansas dominated in the paint. "Our main focus on the game was to get in there and pound them," Traylor said. Even without 7-footer Joel Embiid, who is out for the weekend with a back injury. Glenn Cosey hit five 3-pointers and had 17 points for the 15th-seeded Colonels (24-10), who have lost all eight of their NCAA tournament games. Tarius Johnson and Eric Stutz finished with 15 points apiece, but second-leading scorer Corey Walden was held to four points before fouling out. "Corey is a very important part of our team," Colonels coach Jeff Neubauer said. "With that being said, thats not an excuse. Kansas really played great." In the second half, perhaps. Certainly not in the first. Like a swarm of gnats, the smaller guards of Eastern Kentucky made life miserable for the turnover-prone Jayhawks in the first 20 minutes. Kansas had more turnovers (10) by the midway point than field goal attempts (9), and at one juncture turned it over on six of eight possessions. Most of those miscues turned into easy points at the other end. The Colonels, buoyed by their trademark 3-point shooting, raced out to a 23-14 lead, silencing a heavily pro-Jayhawks crowd and even making some fans out of New Mexico and Stanford folks. "Our defence is focused on turning people over and being aggressive," Stutz said. "In that first half, thats what got us our leead.dddddddddddd" It wasnt until the first of two rim-rattling dunks by Wiggins off alley-oop passes that Kansas showed some life. The second came during an 8-0 flurry that gave the Big 12 champions a 28-27 lead with just over a minute to play, their first since the opening minute of the game. The Jayhawks have grown accustomed to tussles with lower seeds, of course. Just last year, they trailed No. 16 seed Western Kentucky at halftime before pulling away down the stretch. It looked like Kansas would pull away again Friday, scoring on its first seven trips down court and building a 45-38 lead. The turnovers suddenly came to a stop -- after 13 in the first half, the Jayhawks had just one in the second -- and Eastern Kentucky was suddenly on the ropes. But rather than continue to pound away inside, where the Jayhawks were having so much success, they reverted to missing jump shots. The Colonels took advantage with a 10-0 run, and Self called a red-faced timeout rather than risk pulling out his hair. "We knew that anything could happen," the Jayhawks Conner Frankamp said. "We were down, we tried to stay poised and not get too rattled, and just tried to make the easy play, because we felt like we could score pretty good down low." Once they were reminded of that fact. Kansas went back inside out of the timeout, dumping the ball to a big man or driving to the basket. The Jayhawks regained the lead at 59-56 on Wayne Seldens free throw and Traylors putback dunk, and then kept turning back every 3-pointer that Eastern Kentucky managed to rattle home. "Just our mentality (changed)," Wiggins said. "We were tougher on the ball. We knew against the defence of this team, we had to make good decisions, great plays and throw it inside." When the final seconds ticked away, and the Jayhawks were assured of advancing, Self slowly walked to the scorers table to shake hands with his Eastern Kentucky counterpart. He exhaled deeply as he stuck out his hand, and the first words he said were, "Great game." "They played great. They played loose and gave us everything we wanted," he said later. "It was a hard-fought game, one we had to work our tail off 40 minutes to come out with a win." Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '