and also failed to convert a couple of match points in the

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Marcel Kittel sprinted to a second straight stage victory in a wet third leg of the Giro dItalia on Sunday while Michael Matthews retained the overall leaders pink jersey. Kittel looked to have left it too late on his 26th birthday after losing contact with his rivals inside the final kilometre. But the German cyclist came from behind to edge out Ben Swift on the line and deny the Briton a maiden Grand Tour stage victory. Kittel finished in four hours 28 minutes 43 seconds. Elia Viviani was third in a bunch sprint at the end of the 187-kilometre cross-border leg from Armagh to Dublin. Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C., was 74th while Victorias Ryder Hesjedal finished 96th. Tuft is in a four-way tie for fourth in the overall standings while Hesjedal is tied for 156th. Matthews -- whose Orica-GreenEdge team won Fridays opening time trial -- will lead the race back to Italy and the Australian has an eight-second advantage over Italian cyclist Alessandro Petacchi. Rain fell intermittently for most of the day and wet roads caused several crashes, including two large ones, but all the riders were able to continue. Former winner Michele Scarponi was one of the riders caught up in a large crash around 60 kilometres from the finish. Several cyclists also suffered technical problems and Swift briefly dropped off the back of the peloton when he had to change his bike with 25 kilometres to go. Maarten Tjallingii, who is still wearing the blue King of the Mountains jersey, led for most of the stage for the second day in a row. He was part of an early breakaway of five riders, along with Yonder Godoy, Miguel Angel Rubiano Chavez, Gert Dockx and Giorgio Cecchinel. They had a lead of six minutes before the peloton started reeling them in with more than 100 kilometres remaining. Their advantage briefly increased as the peloton slowed to wait for riders involved in the major crashes to catch up, but the group was back together with more than seven kilometres remaining after a brief solo escape from Cecchinel. After three wet days in Northern Ireland and Ireland, the Giro takes a rest day on Monday as it travels back to Italy. The Giro ends in Trieste on June 1. Adidas NMD R2 Sverige . - Florida State has suspended Jameis Winston for the entire game against Clemson on Saturday, extending its initial punishment of one half after the quarterback made offensive and vulgar comments about female anatomy earlier this week. Adidas NMD R1 Herr Rea . Los Angeles announced its new deal for Kupchak late in the fourth quarter of a 145-130 loss to the Houston Rockets. Kupchak had one year left on his current contract. http://www.nmdsverige.com/nmd-r1-adidas-skor/dam.html . The White Sox said Wednesday they acquired left-handed pitching prospect Sean Bierman and infielder Ben Kline, who both played at Class A this season. The White Sox dealt Crain to Tampa Bay on July 29. NMD Herr Rea . Speaking with TSN 1050 following Brendan Shanahans introductory press conference, the Leafs GM also addressed the clubs perceived leadership issues and the type of working relationship that can be expected within Torontos front office. Adidas NMD R1 Billigt . With a victory seemingly slipping away late in the third quarter, his quick scoring flurry helped Golden State regain control early in the fourth. MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Defending champion Kei Nishikori of Japan rallied to beat Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals of the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships on Friday. The top-seeded Nishikori will next play 35-year-old American Michael Russell, who upset third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-3, 7-6 (6) in another quarterfinal match. Bogomolov broke Nishikori for a 3-2 lead in the second set only to drop his next two service games and lose the set. In the third, Nishikori fought off three break points to hold serve and broke Bogomolov in consecutive games to take a 5-2 lead. "Obviously, he was playing really well, I thought," Nishikori said. "He was hitting ball really flat and deep and wasnt making mistakes, especially from the beginning he was very aggressive. I wasnt maybe playing 100 per cent." Fourth-seeded Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan beat American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-4 in another match and will next face either Jack Sock or Ivo Karlovic, who play later Friday. Russell needed nearly two hours to finish off the former world No. 1 Hewitt. He was broken after double-faulting twice whhile serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set and also failed to convert a couple of match points in the tiebreaker before finally closing it out.dddddddddddd "Every time we play its a battle," Russell said. "Its kind of the mentality knowing, Yeah, youre serving it out. But this guy has a really good return. And vice versa the same thing when hes serving." Russell is the second-oldest player ranked in the top 100 behind Tommy Haas, who will turn 36 in April. He didnt manage a point on his serve while trying to close out the match at 5-4. He then went up 6-4 in the tiebreaker but hit a forehand into the net on his first match point. Hewitt fought off a second match point with a brilliant forehand down the line to level the breaker at 6-all. But the Australian hit a forehand wide and then a return long to allow Russell to advance to just his third ATP Tour semifinal. "My rhythm on my serve wasnt there," Hewitt said. "I was feeling my shoulder a little bit and just couldnt hit my spots. So that was putting me under a lot of pressure then, and he makes a lot of balls and makes you play a lot." ' ' '