METZ, France -- Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France overcame a slow start to beat Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-4 on Friday and reach the Moselle Open semifinals. . The first five games were tightly contested and took 35 minutes to complete, with the American saving seven break points before the top-seeded Tsonga broke back and held for 3-2. "I had to be fully focused because Jesse was in good shape," Tsonga said. "Im happy with how I played and happy to reach the semifinals, even though Im still making a few mistakes." Levines resistance started to crumble after that and Tsonga broke him again before wrapping up the first set with an ace. Tsonga then hit five aces in a comfortable second set where he faced no break points. He faces eighth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in the last four on Saturday after the Russian beat Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-0. Tsonga is looking for his second title of the year after winning in Doha in January, where he beat Gael Monfils in the final. He is eighth overall in the race to determine the eight players who will qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London. Tsonga could potentially face Monfils again in another final on Sunday. Monfils had earlier beaten second-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4 to reach his first semifinal since February. Making his return at the indoor tournament in Metz after several months out with a knee injury, Monfils broke Kohlschreiber for the sixth time in the match before clinching victory on serve. "Im feeling the strain, but I want to rise above the tiredness and the pain," Monfils said. "Im surprising myself. I didnt expect to hold out for this long, but the Adrenalin helps." The Frenchman next faces fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy, who had a more comfortable 7-5, 6-2 win against Florian Mayer of Germany. Seppi played consistently, winning 97 per cent of points behind his first serve and breaking Mayer twice in each set. [url=http://www.cowboysofficialteamstore.com/autographed-emmitt-smith-jersey-dx-... Smith Jersey . -- Its only Week 3 and already the Kansas City Chiefs are so banged up theyve had to alter their practice schedule. . -- Alabama left no doubt its tops in the state. [url=http://www.cowboysofficialteamstore.com/autographed-jason-hatcher-jersey-eb... . Correia pitched six solid innings and Presley had two hits and scored three runs as Pittsburgh beat the Houston Astros 6-3 on Wednesday night to gain ground in the wild-card race. [url=http://www.cowboysofficialteamstore.com/autographed-michael-irvin-jersey-ny... Irvin Jersey .Y. - Padres manager Bud Black tried spinning a tale about extra batting practice in the cages during the rain delay to explain why his offence came alive when the game resumed. . The National Football Foundation announced on ESPN that Detmer will be part of a class of 14 former players and three former coaches who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in December.The Los Angeles Kings have received their fair share of congratulations and compliments on their Stanley Cup win, but few words will resonate more than those from one of the teams all-time greats. "It is a great day for hockey," Wayne Gretzky told TSNs Pierre LeBrun on Tuesday. "(It) couldnt have happened to a nicer group of management and coaches that believed in a team that clearly took their play to another level. All hard work and very unselfish, they became true champions." Gretzky played eight seasons with the Kings from 1988 to 1996 and led them to the Stanley Cup Final in 1993. He received a loud standing ovation at the Staples Center prrior to Game 3 between the Kings and Devils after being introduced to drop the puck for the ceremonial faceoff. [url=http://www.cowboysofficialteamstore.com/autographed-dwayne-harris-jersey-wm... Harris Jersey. Until then, Gretzky tried to keep a low profile during the Kings playoff run because he didnt want to take any attention away from the accomplishments of the team. "The biggest thing of all is that those two teams both earned the right to get there and both had worked so hard," he told TSNs Pierre LeBrun last month. "I just really felt it wasnt my place to sort of steal some of the attention away from the players and the organizations that worked so hard to get there. I thought it was just best to stay on the sidelines." ' ' '