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shushu
Joined: 26 Feb 2019
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27 Feb 2019 03:14 |
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ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Top-ranked Serena Williams overcame Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4 for her second win in two matches at the WTA Championships on Wednesday and all but sealed a spot in the semifinals. Jelena Jankovic topped second-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-3 in her first match at the tournament and fourth-seeded Li Na opened her campaign with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Sara Errani. Williams cruised in the first set but ran into some trouble in the second against a player she had never lost to in seven previous matches. "She definitely played pretty well. But, you know, I can always look to improve on some things. My serve wasnt as good today as it was yesterday, but you cant expect it to be great every day," Williams said. Radwanska wasted three break points at the start of the set and dropped her serve in the fourth game. She broke right back and levelled at 3-3, but Williams pounced on her serve again in the final game, winning the match with a backhand winner. Radwanska has won just one set of 17 she has played against Williams overall - in the 2012 Wimledon final. She has now dropped both round-robin matches in Istanbul, where she also lost to Williams in last years semifinals. Williams is bidding for her fourth title in the event. Errani also lost her opening group match on Tuesday to Azarenka and now looks all but certain to be eliminated. Jankovic, who was ranked No. 1 in 2008 and is back in the top 10 for the first time since 2011, outplayed Azeranka to snap a four-match losing streak against a fellow former No. 1. "Vika is a great champion, and I knew it was going to be a tough match. We played against each other in Cincinnati and I lost in three sets, and I think the difference today was that I was serving much better," Jankovic said. Williams, 32, is enjoying the finest season in her career, having already won 10 titles. She added the French Open and U.S. Open titles to bring her Grand Slam record to 17 championships and is 75-4 for the year. Williams, making her eighth appearance in the event, is looking to become the first player to successfully defend the title since Justine Henin in 2007. Henin was also the last to win 10 titles in a season, in 2007. Williams has clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking for the third time in her career after 2002 and 2009 Li trailed 3-1 in the second set against Errani, but won the next four games. She twice attempted to serve for the match, first, wasting a match point at 5-3 and then again at 6-5. Despite trailing 3-1 in the tiebreaker, Li won the next five points and eventually converted her third match point when Errani sent a forehand into the net. That saw her take her head-to-head meetings against her Errani up to six wins without defeat. "The first match is always tight," Li said, adding that she had felt rusty after a three-week break since her last tournament. "I still have to find the rhythm on the court." The tournament brings together the top eight players in the world. They play two round-robin groups, with the top two finishers in each advancing to the semifinals. Jankovic, now ranked No. 8 and seeded seventh because third-ranked Maria Sharapova pulled out of the event with a shoulder injury, proved to be the steadier player against Azarenka, the Australian Open champion. "I was able to hold my serve and stay focused when I was serving and I waited for my chances to break, and she made some double faults at times and I took advantage of that," Jankovic said. "Its a great win for me, it gave me a lot of confidence." The key game in the first set went to Jankovic after more than 10 minutes when she held serve for a 5-3 lead. Azarenka saved two set points in the next game but then sent a forehand wide on Jankovics fourth in the 10th game. Azarenka dropped her serve in the third game to fall behind and then held in the fifth despite serving three double-faults and facing four break points. But she could not trouble Jankovic on her serve and another forehand by Azarenka that sailed long to hand Jankovic the match. "Of course she was playing well. I mean, I think shes playing her best tennis right now. Really improved a lot throughout the year, " Azarenka said. "But I cannot say that I played well and she was better today. Of course she was better today, but, you know, I let a lot of balls go. There were a lot of mistakes, small mistakes, a little bit bigger mistakes." After losing the U.S. Open final to Serena Williams, Azarenka lost her opening matches in both Tokyo and Beijing before beating Errani on Tuesday. Azarenka still has a 5-4 career edge over Jankovic. 16:56ET 23-10-13 Nike Zoom Cheap China . "Im going to send Webbie a six-pack (of beer) tonight," she said. Webb wasnt sure that would help. "Ill probably drink one and go to sleep," the Australian veteran said. The two players set up a Sunday showdown between former HSBC champions after finishing off their third rounds with identical birdies over three of the last five holes Saturday to separate themselves slightly from the rest of the crowded leaderboard. Nike Zoom China Wholesale .The Dallas Cowboys released Sam from the practice squad Tuesday, dropping the rush end as they prepare for several potential reinforcements to return to the defensive line. http://www.nikezoomoutlet.com/ . Solomon Elimimian did not make the trip with the team after suffering what appeared to be a right leg injury in the teams regular season finale against the Calgary Stampeders. Cheap Nike Zoom . The Brazilian international goalkeeper was beaten twice in the first 12 minutes of his Reds debut in a 3-1 preseason loss to Columbus Crew in Florida earlier this week. Nike Zoom Clearance . -- Valentin Zykov scored in overtime as the Baie-Comeau Drakkar rallied to a 3-2 victory over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Sunday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action.RECIFE, Brazil - With his team down to 10 men for nearly an hour, Keylor Navas made sure Costa Ricas last line of defence held firm. The goalkeeper came through with a string of stops in regulation and extra time and then made the only save in a penalty shootout to send Costa Rica through to the World Cup quarterfinals on Sunday with a win over Greece. After Navas dived to his right to push out the effort by Theofanis Gekas, Costa Rica defender Michael Umana scored the decisive spot kick for a 5-3 win in the shootout, sending the team sprinting down the pitch to embrace its goalkeeper. The game had finished 1-1 following extra time, after Greece equalized in second-half injury time. "It was only a dream for us, a dream that became a reality," Navas said. "A dream that was dreamt by an entire country." Costa Rica will play one of the tournament favourites the Netherlands in the quarterfinals on Saturday in a surprising appearance in the last eight for the small country that has a quarter of the population of Brazils biggest city and which hardly anyone picked to even make it past the group stage. "To the entire people in Costa Rica, those at home and out on the streets, this is for you," Costa Ricas Colombian coach Jorge Luis Pinto said. "This is a people that love football and they deserve it. ... We will continue fighting. We will go on. We see beautiful things." The victory also delighted the majority of the just over 41,000 fans in Recife as the Brazilian locals shouted for Costa Rica throughout the game and often broke out into chants of "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ticos!" — using the common nickname for Costa Ricans. Greece was often booed. Costa Rica went ahead in the 52nd minute with a coolly taken goal by captain Bryan Ruiz, but the game changed when Oscar Duarte clumsily lunged at Greeces Jose Holebas in the 66th and was sent off with a second yellow card. Pouring forward, the Greeks did beat Navas in injury time when defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos smashed in a rebound to make the teams numerical advantage eventually pay. Yet Navas kept denying the Greeks through extra time and then, crucially, when he dived, threw up a hand and pushed GGekas spot-kick away at the end.dddddddddddd "Obviously he has to be congratulated," Greece coach Fernando Santos said of Costa Ricas keeper. "If it werent for (him), the results would have been different." Santos was sent to the stands by Australian referee Ben Williams just before the penalties and said he watched the shootout on a television inside the stadium. "Sadness," he said of Greeces elimination and his last game in charge of the team. "Definitely sadness. Not much (else) goes through your mind at that time." The red card for Duarte changed the game — which Costa Rica had slowly begun to control — and Greece surged forward for most of the remainder of the match. But, with the exception of Papastathopoulos goal, they just couldnt get past Navas as shot after shot was blocked. Greece had 13 shots on target to Costa Ricas two. Navas smothered a volley from Dimitris Salpingidis from point-blank range in the first half. After the equalizer, he threw himself high to tip over a header from substitute Konstantinos Mitroglou that would have surely been the winner in the dying seconds of regulation time. He then made three crucial stops in extra time, when Costas Katsouranis, Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and Mitroglou were all denied. During the shootout, the Costa Rican squad knelt in a line. They then burst onto their feet to race over to Navas and smother him in a huddle when Umanas shot hit the net and Costa Rica made the last eight at the World Cup. "We will not stay on the quarterfinals," coach Pinto said. "Rest assured that we will not get eliminated there." ___ Lineups: Costa Rica: Keylor Navas; Giancarlo Gonzalez, Michael Umana, Oscar Duarte, Junior Diaz, Cristian Gamboa (Johnny Acosta, 77); Celso Borges, Christian Bolanos (Randall Brenes, 83), Yeltsin Tejeda (Jose Cubero, 66); Joel Campbell, Bryan Ruiz. Greece: Orestis Karnezis; Kostas Manolas, Vasileios Torosidis, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Jose Holebas; Andreas Samaris (Konstantinos Mitroglou, 5 , Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Giorgos Karagounis, Giannis Maniatis (Costas Katsouranis, 7; Georgios Samaras, Dimitris Salpingidis (Theofanis Gekas, 69). ' ' '
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