andle a greater workload as the schedule reaches the winter.Theres sometimes where you feel like those last few minutes of the third quarter are going

PARIS -- Gilles Simon rallied to beat Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in an all-French match in the first round of the Paris Masters on Monday.In their ninth career meeting dating back to 2007, Simon cracked Benneteaus resistance in a tense first game of the deciding set and won the next three to go 4-0 up.Juliens a very good player and you always have to be wary of him, Simon said. It was a tough match and Im glad I reacted well to get through.Benneteau had won three of their past four meetings, but Simon is now 5-4 ahead.He saved seven of eight break points and broke Benneteau three times -- twice in the deciding set.The 23rd-ranked Simon has reached the Shanghai Masters semifinals and the Miami Masters quarterfinals this season.Im trying to finish the season strongly, the 31-year-old Simon said. Its always good to finish well to get things going for next year.He next faces 10th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut and leads the Spaniard 3-1 overall.Bautista Agut is one of seven players in Paris vying for the two remaining spots at the season-ending ATP finals in London.Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic, who won the Swiss Indoors on Sunday, had the last two places heading to Paris.Tomas Berdych, David Goffin, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Lucas Pouille and Bautista Agut are the other contenders and are also playing here.Berdych, who won the 2005 Paris Masters, must reach the semifinals to qualify. He faces Portugals Joao Sousa on Tuesday and could then face Bautista Agut in the third round.Tsonga faces Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who downed 36-year-old Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-1, 6-4 in Mondays last match.Earlier, Frenchman Benoit Paires 14 aces were not enough as Italian Paolo Lorenzi won 6-4, 7-6 (4).Lorenzi took his only chance on Paires serve in the first set and saved the one break point he faced in the second. He plays 16th-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain downed Italian Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-1 and faces fourth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada, who is feeling the effects of an ankle injury that forced him to withdraw ahead of his China Open semifinal three weeks ago.Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, an Australian Open finalist 10 years ago, won 6-2, 6-4 against Paul-Henri Mathieu and faces 14th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.American Steve Johnson had eight aces in a 6-4, 7-5 win against Guido Pella of Argentina, setting up a match against 12th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet.Sousa saved all six chances on his serve as he beat Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-4, while German Jan-Lennard Struff did not concede a single chance on serve in a 6-1, 6-1 win against Illya Marchenko.Spaniard Fernando Verdasco was up 6-2, 3-2 against Robin Haase when the Dutchman retired with a left hip injury.Verdasco is up against second-ranked Andy Murray, who will move top of the world rankings if he wins the tournament and Novak Djokovic does not reach the final.Djokovic, whose 66 career titles include a record 30 in Masters tournaments, is chasing his fourth straight title in Paris and fifth overall.The Serb opens against either Nicolas Almagro of Spain or Gilles Muller, who play their first-round match late on Tuesday.Djokovic leads Almagro 4-0 and Muller 3-0 in career meetings, while Murray is 11-1 against Verdasco.There are two other American players in Tuesdays remaining first-round action.Big-serving John Inser takes on Mischa Zverev -- seven years after their other meeting -- and Jack Sock plays Philipp Kohlschreiber for the first time. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . Rob Manfred, baseballs chief operating officer, testified last week during the grievance filed by the players union to overturn Rodriguezs 211-game suspension. A person familiar with the hearing, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Manfred testified the sport wasnt concerned whether Bosch distributed performance-enhancing drugs to minors because MLBs interest was his relationship with players under investigation. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court. https://www.nflcheapjerseysfreeshipping.com/ . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Cheap Football Jerseys . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. Cheap NFL Jerseys China . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. HOUSTON -- With one-quarter of their first season under Mike DAntoni complete, the Rockets are resembling the offensive juggernaut many predicted following the consummation between DAntoni and the Rockets bevy of perimeter shooters.The Rockets (13-7) completed their second five-game road trip of the season with a sparkling 4-1 record late Friday, capped by victories over the Golden State Warriors and Nuggets on consecutive nights. Houston played a league-high 14 road games thus far but are still generating serious momentum on the offensive end of the court.The Rockets, second in the league in points per game (111.3) and third in offensive rating (113.8 points per 100 possessions), averaged 121.6 points during their five-game roadie against Western Conference foes. The Rockets extended their NBA-record streak of consecutive games with at least 10 3-pointers to 19, a blitz that helped mask their defensive warts and the imbalance of playing so many road tilts.Therell be nights where well take a step back, and we can still get in our pick-and-rolls a little quicker, DAntoni said of the offense. We can get a lot better, but its a pretty good spot (to be in).Youve got James (Harden) and Ryan (Anderson) and Trevor (Ariza), all those guys. Youre going to score. I cant mess it up that bad. We just try to help them as much as we can and get out of the way.Entering Sunday, the Rockets had five players ranked among the top eight in the NBA in 3-pointers: reserve guard Eric Gordon (second with 63), Harden (fourth, 58), Ariza (seventh, 56), and Anderson (eighth, 54). With the Boston Celtics paying a visitt to Toyota Center on Monday, everything is going according to plan for the Rockets.ddddddddddddTwenty games in were pretty solid, Harden said. Weve still got a long way to go in the aspect of executing better ... but I like where were at.The Celtics (12-8) won six of eight and are two games into a stretch of eight of 10 on the road. They squeezed past the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night behind another stellar performance from point guard Isaiah Thomas, whose 37-point effort marked his fifth 30-point game this season.Because of Bostons backcourt depth, Thomas is averaging a relatively modest 33.3 minutes per game. He ranks ninth in the league in scoring (26.3 points) but outside the top 20 in average minutes. Given that efficiency, its easy to question whether Thomas can handle a greater workload as the schedule reaches the winter.Theres sometimes where you feel like those last few minutes of the third quarter are going to be really important moving forward, especially based on how your teams playing, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. You just have to make that decision are you going to take him out earlier in the third ... and put him back in a little bit earlier or play him through until the 2- or 1-minute mark of the third and then get him his rest until the 7- or 6- (minute mark of the fourth quarter).Ultimately there will be days that are very consistent and there will be times Im going to go with my gut. (The players) know that and weve talked about it. ' ' '