wn to playing in the Tiger Woods era. His aim is still

Posted in IYH Forums by lavender123456 at 06:56, Jun 17 2014

Melbourne, Australia - Two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka rolled to an easy third-round win Saturday at the Australian Open, while Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska also advanced. Azarenka needed exactly one hour in a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Austrian Yvonne Meusburger to start the night session at Laver Arena. Sharapova had a much easier time earlier in the day with cooler conditions and took full advantage in 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) win over Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, while Radwanska had to rally for a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The second-seeded Azarenka traded breaks with Meusburger to start their match, but the native of Belarus dominated from there by winning the final 11 games. Azarenka broke serve seven times, won 71 percent of her first-serve points and ripped off 20 winners compared to just five for Meusburger. "It was just a good performance I think from me," said Azarenka. "I felt like I started well and I kept that momentum throughout the match, and thats what I wanted to do today." Its been a pretty smooth first three rounds for Azarenka, who was pushed to a tiebreaker in the first set of her opening match against Johanna Larsson and has since dropped a mere eight games. Next up is American Sloane Stephens in a rematch of last years semifinal affair. Azarenka prevailed in that one, 6-1, 6-4, blowing five match points in the ninth game of the second set before taking a controversial medical timeout. She then finally secured the victory in the following game. "I have great memories of last year," Azarenka said without going into detail. "We left it all last year here, and thats what is important for me, you know, is to play another match. Im looking forward to that match. "Sloane is a great player, very tough competitor. She has a great record here. Its going to be tough. It only gets tougher from here. Every round, you know, is more challenging." Stephens, who stunned Serena Williams in the quarterfinals last year, advanced Saturday with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine. The 13th seed was down 3-5 in the first set, but won six straight games to take control and didnt want to stir up anything from last year. "It was a tough match. Obviously, semis of a Grand Slam it was pretty intense," said Stephens when asked about Azarenka. "Last year has nothing to do with this year. Its a totally different year. A lot of things have happened. So, you know, Im just looking forward to getting back on the court." Sharapova was back on the court two days after her 3 1/2-hour marathon win over Karin Knapp that was played in sweltering heat. It was much cooler on Saturday and the third-seeded Russian breezed through the opening set in just 32 minutes. Cornet, though, battled back in the second with a trio of breaks, including one to force a tiebreaker. She then grabbed a 6-5 lead in the tiebreak, but the 2008 Aussie Open champ came up with a drop shot to save set point and won the next two to finally close it out. "I just didnt have a great rhythm," said Sharapova, who also practiced after the match. "It was quite tough in the end. She had a set point and she had a chance to level the match out, which is something I probably wouldnt want to do, is go into a third set. I was happy I was able to finish it in two." Sharapova will next meet Slovakias Dominika Cibulkova, who pasted 16th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-1, 6-0. Radwanska rebounded Saturday after a difficult first set. She was also down 0-2 in the second set, but captured 12 of the last 14 games. Pavlyuchenkova had a 39-25 edge in winners, but committed 49 unforced errors compared to 19 for Radwanska, who wont have to face former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round. Spains Garbine Muguruza knocked off the 10th seed with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory. Muguruza has had a great start to 2014. She lost to Venus Williams in the quarterfinals of the season-opener in Auckland and won her first career title last week in Hobart. "I worked really hard this preseason, so I think this is the reward for working so hard," said Muguruza. Wozniacki, meanwhile, continued her downward spiral. A 21-time WTA winner but never a Grand Slam champion, the Dane has been ousted before the quarterfinals in each of the last eight major tournaments. Jelena Jankovic and Simona Halep won third-round matches Saturday and will meet in the fourth round. The eighth-seeded Jankovic notched a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Kurumi Nara of Japan, while the 11th-seeded Halep eased past Kazakhstan qualifier Zarina Diyas, 6-1, 6-4. Womens fourth-round play will open Sunday with Serena Williams headlining the action against 14th-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic. Also, fourth-seeded Li Na will take on Russias Ekaterina Makarova and ninth-seeded Angelique Kerber will meet Italys Flavia Pennetta. The night session at Laver Arena will start with Aussie native Casey Dellacqua against Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. very cheap jerseys . -- Nick Johnson put an awful first half behind him and came up big for Arizona in the final 2:45. nfl china jerseys . Tipsarevic was the only top-10 player not to have won a tournament this year. The Serb is No. 8 in the world. The second-seeded Monaco was seeking his third title of the year. Tipsarevic surrendered a 4-1 lead in the second set after a brief rain delay and he also dropped his serve after a longer, 20-minute interruption in the third. http://www.cheapnfljerseyschina.biz/. Floundering in the English Premier League, United has delivered better performances in Europe this season and stunned Bayern by taking the lead against the run of play through Nemanja Vidics header in the 58th minute. Bayern had dominated possession but struggled to create a clear-cut chance before Schweinsteiger arrowed a half-volley high into the net in the 67th to give the German side a slight advantage ahead of the second leg in Munich next week. cheap jerseys from china . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court. nfl jerseys china . -- In the first two games against the Orlando Magic, the Indiana Pacers struggled to make the most of their size and matchup advantages.INVERNESS -- Phil Mickelson is banking on a change in strategy on and around the greens to break his tournament drought in Britain over the next two weeks. The American left-hander has finished in the top 10 at the British Open just once -- at Troon in 2004 -- and is using this weeks Scottish Open, on a links course at Castle Stuart, as preparation for the years third major. Mickelson acknowledged Wednesday that his failure to master British greens is the root of his problem, and will attempt to rectify that over the coming fortnight. "The biggest reason is the greens," the sixth-ranked Mickelson said, when asked what has been holding him back on these shores. "I have not putted well. The grass is a little bit more coarse, a little thicker, has a little bit more effect, and you need to putt with less break and more aggression is what Ive come to find. "Im going to try to do that this week and next week and see if that doesnt combat some of the issues that Ive had putting here." With the British Open starting at Royal St. Georges in southeast England next week, Mickelson will also use the warmup event in Scotland to try out new strategies in his famed short game. "Having a week now to be able to see the way the ball reacts, get my mind adjusted to the short-game shots, as well as the full shots, how the balll reacts, I think is going to play a big effect -- a big positive effect -- in my performances," he said.dddddddddddd Mickelson has won four major titles -- three at the Masters and one at the U.S. PGA Championship -- and is widely considered one of the greats of modern golf despite never having held the No. 1 spot. That is chiefly down to playing in the Tiger Woods era. His aim is still to seal the Grand Slam of the four majors -- "I look at those players in a different light, that would be a great goal for me" -- but he also said improving his record in Britain and in links conditions will help him to become a more "complete player." "Its something that I am really starting to enjoy the challenge of succeeding over here," the 41-year-old Mickelson said. "The Scottish Open and the British Open mean a lot to me because its a real challenge for me to overcome the obstacles. I always play high through the air; to be able to play along the ground, keep the ball under control, drive it well through crosswinds, those challenges Ive embraced these last few years. "Theres only one year that I played well, in 2004, where I was a shot out of the playoff. Ive not performed to the level that I have week in, week out in the States. I want to change that and Im planning on doing that." ' ' '