WASHINGTON -- No. 2 Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., is off to the semifinals at the Citi OPen on Saturday. Raonic, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last month, ended the surprising run of Steve Johnson, eliminating the American 7-6 (2), 6-2. His opposition? The surprising Donald Young. The left-handed American arrived at the hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open on a four-match losing streak. He was 10-13 this season. He hadnt reached the semifinals at any tour-level event in three years. Young insists he believed in himself -- more than he used to. After four victories in a row, three against seeded opponents, Young is back in an ATP semifinal, getting there by beating No. 7 Kevin Anderson 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Friday at the Citi Open. "Losings not good, and I was doing a lot of that," Young said. "I didnt want to do that anymore. I wanted to try something else." Young, ranked 73rd, hadnt made it this far at a tournament since October 2011, when he was the Thailand Open runner-up. Two months earlier, he got to the semifinals in Washington. When Fridays match ended, Young screamed and slapped his chest with his right palm. Once as high as No. 38, he is projected to get back into the top 50 next week. That would make him the second-highest American man, behind John Isner. "I feel like we have a lot of good players that are knocking at the door around 60, 70, 80, top 100, that are playing well enough to be top 50," Young said. "Its just about having the right results at the right tournaments at the right time." He hasnt done that a whole lot, despite having been pegged for greatness as a teenager. Now 25, Young joked that maybe hes finally at the right age. One thing hes been working on is taking a more positive approach on court, instead of allowing negative thoughts or energy to hold him back. "Its still a work in progress. I still slip back every now and then. But more so than not, Im being a lot more positive," said Young, who is based in Atlanta. "Ive tried being negative. It doesnt work. Ive had a lot of low times, but positive is working well." Johnson beat the tours top two servers, Isner and Ivo Karlovic, in his previous two matches, but he couldnt beat the man who ranks third in that category, Raonic, failing to even earn one break point Friday. No. 6-seeded Richard Gasquet of France reached the semifinals by beating No. 4 Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-1, 6-4. Gasquet faced only one break point, in the final game, and saved it when Nishikori sailed a return long. Next for Gasquet will be No. 10 Santiago Giraldo of Colombia or No. 13 Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver. In womens action, two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova moved into the semifinals when Vania King withdrew from the tournament with a right hip injury. King also pulled out of next weeks tournament in Montreal but doesnt think the injury will prevent her from entering the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 25. The sixth-seeded Kuznetsova now faces No. 2 Ekaterina Makarova, who beat No. 5 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (3), 6-3. The other womens semifinal is Marina Erakovic of New Zealand against Kurumi Nara of Japan. Athletics Jerseys 2020 . So it was understandable if he was a little shaky early in his return to the Texas Rangers rotation. He spent most of the outing searching for his best stuff, but still managed to shut down the struggling Minnesota Twins offence. Custom Oakland Athletics Jerseys . Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist as the New York Islanders earned a 2-1 win over Ottawa Wednesday, leaving the Senators five points out of a playoff spot with just five games to play and four teams ahead of them. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/. A veteran of 16 NHL seasons, Prospals career was highlighted by him ranking fourth in points scored, third in assists and sixth in games played among all Czech Republic born players in NHL history. Oakland Athletics Pro Shop . -- The Atlanta Braves added to their extensive wave of long-term deals with their young stars on Sunday by agreeing to a $42 million, four-year contract with All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel. Athletics Jerseys China . Reyes, 26, was traded from Atlanta to Toronto in July 2010 and spent the remainder of the season in the minors. He began 2011 in the majors and made 20 starts with the Blue Jays, going 5-8 with a 5.40 earned run average before he was waived on Aug.NASHVILLE -- Undeterred by his scoring drought, Ryan Ellis just kept shooting and it paid off Tuesday night. Ellis ended a 42-game scoring drought by notching the first of Nashvilles three third-period goals and added an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night. Shea Weber scored in the first period, Craig Smith and Viktor Stalberg followed Ellis with goals in the third, and David Legwand had three assists to help Nashville snap a three-game losing streak. Lee Stempniak and Mikael Backlund scored for Calgary, which has lost four of its last five. Weber opened the scoring at 15:52 of the first period. With Nashville on a power play, Roman Josi sent a pass from above the right faceoff circle to Weber above the left, where he blasted a one-timer over the glove of Flames goaltender Karri Ramo. The Predators outshot Calgary 15-10 in the first. "We turned the puck over in the first period," Calgary coach Bob Hartley said. "We kind of gave them the first period that we didnt want to give them. We had no intensity. If its not for Karri Ramo, we could have gone on the plane after the first period." The Predators entered Tuesday with the leagues seventh-ranked power play, but had not scored a goal on the man advantage in their last four games. A night after recording his first-career NHL shutout in Carolina, Ramo got the start Tuesday and made 30 saves. The Flames drew even with 1:04 remaining in the first. From behind the Nashville net, Jiri Hudler carried the puck just above the goal line on the left side and slid a pass to an unchecked Stempniak in the lower part of the right faceoff circle. His shot beat Nashville goaltender Carter Hutton for his seventh goal of the season. Stempniaks goal was his first since Dec. 7, a span of 17 games. "I thought I did a good job tonight of handling the puck and keeping the forecheck at bay," Hutton said. "I thought we had the edge in the first. I thought (Ramo) made a lot of good saves and for me, I wwas able to make a couple of saves and handle the puck and get in the game.dddddddddddd" Hutton saw his first game action since a disappointing effort in Carolina on Jan. 5 that drew some criticism from Nashville coach Barry Trotz. He recovered nicely Tuesday night, making 22 saves. "That was a good bounce-back game for him," Trotz said. "I thought we did a really good job of containing Calgary for the most part, especially in the first two periods." Nashville went in front for good at 55 seconds of the third when Ellis carried the puck in on the left side, cut to the high slot and beat Ramo with a slap shot for his second goal of the season. "You just keep shooting, I think thats the biggest thing," Ellis said. "Our forwards did a good job of driving the net, and luckily it went in." Less than two minutes later, Smith gave Nashville a 3-1 lead on another Predators power play. Seth Jones slap shot from the centre of the blue line hit traffic in front of the Calgary net, and Smith dug the puck out and beat Ramo with a wrist shot to the glove side. Calgary though they had cut the Nashville lead at 4:17 of the third, but the officials ruled that Mark Giordano had played the puck to a teammate with a high stick. Stalberg put Nashville ahead 4-1 at 10:52 of the third when his redirection of Ellis shot got by Ramo, but Backlund made it a two-goal game at 13:07 with a nice move off the right half wall before beating Hutton on the stick side with a wrist shot. Backlund has a goal in each of his last three games. "Its nice for personal confidence," Backlund said. "Thats what everybody wants to do, and everybody tries to do. Im happy about it, but at the same time, if we dont win games, Im not satisfied." NOTES: Hudler had two assists in the game. He has assists in three consecutive games. ... Nashville is 17-2-4 when scoring first this season. ... The Predators concluded a five game home stand 2-2-1. . It was the first three-assist game for Legwand this season and the fourth of his career. ' ' '