From the moment she returned to Cal as head coach in April 2011

Paris, France (Sports Network) - Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal surprisingly needed four sets to win his first-round match Monday, while oft-injured Frenchman Gael Monfils upended fifth seed Tomas Berdych on Day 2 at the French Open. The reigning three-time winner and third-seeded Nadal had his hands full with 6-foot-5 Daniel Brands, but the clay-court king from Spain fought back to beat his German counterpart 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3 in 2 hours, 54 minutes on Court Chatrier at Stade Roland Garros. Brands was up a set and led 3-0 in the second-set tiebreak before Nadal mounted his comeback. The Spanish great won seven of the final eight points in the tiebreak and handled things from there. Playing his first Grand Slam match in 11 months, Nadal broke Brands three times, while the German settled for only one break in defeat on a day when he was both striking the ball really well and serving big. The 11-time Grand Slam singles titlist and former world No. 1 Nadal beat current top-ranked star Novak Djokovic in last years French Open finale. Nadal is now a brilliant 37-2 this year, including trips into finals in all eight of his events and 16 straight wins on clay. The mighty Mallorcan is seeking his seventh title of the season. Nadals second-round opponent will be promising Slovak Martin Klizan. In the match of the day, the 81st-ranked Monfils went the distance to oust the former Wimbledon runner-up Berdych 6-7 (8-10), 4-6, 7-6 (7-6), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in 4 hours, 3 minutes. The big-hitting affair featured 26 aces by the winner and only one service break by Berdych. Monfils broke his fellow former French Open semifinalist three times en route to the big victory. The 26-year-old former top-10 star Monfils, who was a clay-court runner-up in Nice this past weekend, appeared in the quarterfinals in his last trip to Roland Garros two years ago. Meanwhile, sixth-seeded French crowd favorite and former Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga drilled helpless Slovenian Aljaz Bedene 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 and seventh-seeded French star Richard Gasquet erased Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. In other action involving top-16 seeds, No. 10 Marin Cilic of Croatia whipped German Philipp Petzschner 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, struggling No. 11 Spaniard Nicolas Almagro overcame Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, and No. 13 Kei Nishikori of Japan crushed Canadian Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-2, 6-0. Italian Fabio Fognini, seeded 27th at this fortnight, defeated German Andreas Beck 6-3, 7-5, 6-3; 30th-seeded quality Frenchman Julien Benneteau held off Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5); Feliciano Lopez outlasted 31st-seeded fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; and 32nd-seeded Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo cruised past Estonian Jurgen Zopp 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. American Ryan Harrison straight-setted Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to move on. Some other opening-round winners were Klizan, Frances Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Czech Lukas Rosol, German Tobias Kamke, Dutchman Igor Sijsling, and 18-year- old Aussie Nick Kyrgios, who doused 34-year-old Czech Radek Stepanek 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (13-11). China Jerseys NFL . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Wholesale Jerseys China . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games. http://www.wholesalejerseyschinacheap.com/ . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. Cheap Jerseys Authentic . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Authentic . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday. SAN FRANCISCO -- California coach Lindsay Gottlieb has received a contract extension through the 2020-21 season, adding three years to her deal.The school announced the extension Thursday, when Gottlieb was in attendance at Pac-12 media day.From the moment she returned to Cal as head coach in April 2011, Gottlieb spoke of building a program over the long haul -- and this move provides her program with stability going forward and benefits on the recruiting trail.You look at womens basketball and there are a handful of programs that are elite, Gottlieb said Thursday. I want to be one of those places where people associate Cal with womens basketball. ... I really do beliieve in what were doing here.ddddddddddddThe 39-year-old Gottlieb, the 2012-13 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, is 118-51 at Cal. She was previously a top assistant at the school, then spent three years as head coach at Santa Barbara before returning to Berkeley.Personally, the place has changed my life. Its been the greatest impact on my professional career, she said. An extension to say, We want you here for the next five years, is really, for me, very meaningful.The Golden Bears are picked sixth in the preseason poll by the conference coaches. ' ' '