RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Top-seeded Rafael Nadal reached the semifinals of the Rio Open, showing no problems with a sore back in defeating Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-1, 6-0 on Friday. http://www.cheapnfljerseyschinastore.us.com/ . No. 1-ranked Nadal, in his first tournament since losing the Australian Open final, played his best match in Brazil and will face fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar in the semifinals. Andjuar ripped through Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-1, 6-1. In the other semifinal, second-seeded David Ferrer will meet unseeded Alexandr Dolgopolov. Ferrer defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Dolgopolov of Ukraine advanced against third-seeded Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-1. Ferrer has won 21 ATP singles title and will be the favourite to reach the final on Sunday against Nadal with 61 titles including 13 Grand Slams. "I think I have improved in everything," Nadal said. "I think I played a complete match. I had my best game of the tournament, and not just that but I played at a very high level. Really, I did things I wasnt able to do a few days ago. I moved better. I was more intense, more aggressive." Asked about the back, Nadal backed off. "Were not going to talk every day about the back," he said. "Im in the semifinals." Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the final in Melbourne, eventually losing to Stanislas Wawrinka in a match he was favoured to win. He took several weeks off and is using Rio to tune up for three months of clay-court play leading to the French Open. Ferrer and Bellucci had to wait for more than an hour with the Spaniard leading 2-1 in the third set when the lights went out at the outdoor stadium. "It was really tough," Ferrer said. "When the match was stopped it was practically in my hands. It was bad luck with what happened with the lights." Dolgopolov was asked if he planned to return to Ukraine, perhaps pulling out of the tournament to go to a country bordering on civil war. "I dont think its going to change a lot at this point if I just finished playing and come back to my country," said Dolgopolov, who lives in the wealthy European enclave of Monte Carlo. "Its still going to be the same situation. I will just be closer. But I am not considering that at this moment." In the combined ATP-WTA event, top-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic reached the semifinals, defeating Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-0. Zakopalova will face Brazilian Teliana Pereira, who defeated Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-4, 6-4. Pereira is a home favourite and the first Brazilian woman in 23 years to crack the WTA top 100. "She (Zakopalova) is the favourite, the top-seeded player," Pereira said. "I have to play like I did today and keep my good rhythm. But I have a lot of confidence and I will have the Brazilian fans behind me." Brazils most famous female player is still Maria Bueno, who won seven Grand Slam singles titles, the last in the 1966 US Open. Zakopalova will be looking for her third WTA singles title. None of the other semifinalists has won a WTA singles title. Japans Kurumi Nara also advanced. She won the first set 7-6 (5), and was leading the second 2-0 when Spains Lourdes Dominguez Lino withdrew with a left leg injury. She will face Nastassja Burnett of Italy, who defeated Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. www.cheapnfljerseyschinastore.us.com . -- Having played six seasons with the Kings, Kevin Martin is very comfortable at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. cheapnfljerseyschinastore . -- As expected, coach John Fox has officially ruled out Wes Welker for Denvers game against San Diego on Thursday night because of a concussion.Lakeland, FL - Detroit Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer has declined a long-term contract offer from the club. Scherzer avoided arbitration in January, agreeing to a one-year deal that is reportedly worth $15.25 million. The Cy Young winner can become a free agent after the 2014 season. Talks with agent Scott Boras for a long-term deal continued through the spring, but were unsuccessful and the Tigers said Sunday that further discussions would not take place during the season. "The Detroit Tigers have made a substantial, long-term contract extension offer to Max Scherzer that would have placed him among the highest paid pitchers in baseball, and the offer was rejected," the Tigers said in a statement. Scherzer was 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 32 starts with the Tigers last year. He became the second Tiger in three years to capture the Cy Young, following 2011 winner Justin Verlander, who agreed to a five-year extension with a vesting option for 2020 last spring. "As we have reiterated, it has beeen the organizations intent to extend Maxs contract and keep him in a Tigers uniform well beyond the 2014 season," the Tigers statement continued. cheapnfljerseyschinastore.us.com. "While this offer would have accomplished that, the ballclubs focus remains on the start of the upcoming season, and competing for a world championship. Moving forward there will be no further in-season negotiation and the organization will refrain from commenting on this matter." Scherzer will be entering his fifth year with the Tigers, who acquired him from Arizona as part of a three-team deal that sent Curtis Granderson to the New York Yankees before the 2010 season. The 29-year-old right-hander has been a double-digit winner in each of his four seasons with Detroit and has a record of 64-30 with a 3.62 ERA in 128 starts as a Tiger. He was 9-15 with a 3.86 ERA in two years for Arizona. Overall, Scherzer owns a career mark of 73-45 with a 3.67 ERA and has 1,069 strikeouts in 1,019 innings in 174 games, all but nine of which have been starts. cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '