#1

y remembering it. The Warriors

in Neuigkeiten und Ankündigungen 21.10.2019 05:23
von jin shuiqian • 1.186 Beiträge

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- The celebration began with a series of happy hops that propelled Serena Williams across the court. Soon she was twirling, waving, laughing and mugging for the cameras -- a familiar ritual by a perennial champion. Williams won a record seventh Key Biscayne title Saturday when she overcame a slow start and a set point to beat Li Na 7-5, 6-1 at the Sony Open. She surpassed the tournament record of six titles she shared with Andre Agassi. "I was actually super excited at the end," Williams said, "because I remember sitting here last year trying to get to six, thinking, OK, obviously I want seven, but I dont want to put the pressure on myself to get to seven. Obviously I wanted to have the most titles here." The No. 1-ranked Williams looked tense at the outset and served poorly, and she was broken twice to fall behind 5-2. "At that moment I felt like I had nothing to lose," Williams said. "I just was able to relax. Whenever I relax, I enjoy myself." Li held a set point serving at 5-4, but Williams erased it with a backhand winner. Williams needed another 21 minutes to pull out the set. The final game of the set went to deuce six times, but she finally won it with a booming backhand that Li couldnt handle. Williams ran to her chair with a satisfied scream, her left fist leading the way. She dominated from there, sweeping the final five games. The 17-time Grand Slam champion has more titles at Key Biscayne than at any other tournament. Shes the fourth woman in the Open era to win an event at least seven times. "I think were going to have to rename this tournament," former top-five player Mary Joe Fernandez said during the trophy ceremony. Both finalists are 32, and they shared lots of smiles while holding their trophies. Li explained: "We were talking about, For sure before the match they say, "Oh, two old women."" Theyre close in age, but its a commentary on the yawning gap between Williams and the rest of the womens tour that, even while at less than her best, she won in straight sets against the No. 2-ranked player. She made only 44 per cent of her first serves and converted just five of 17 break-point chances. Even so, Williams extended her winning streak against top-10 opponents to 15 matches. She beat Li for the 10th time in a row since 2009. "When youre going up against the top players, for me, I have to be ready because they are the best in the world, the whole planet," Williams said. "I enjoy playing people that are ranked like that, because I feel like I can eventually bring out the best in me." The top-ranked men will meet in Sundays final, when No. 1 Rafael Nadal tries for his first Key Biscayne title against No. 2 Novak Djokovic, a three-time champion. No. 1-ranked Mike and Bob Bryan won the mens doubles title for the first time since 2008 by beating Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6 (8), 6-4. Williams lives 90 minutes up I-95 from Key Biscayne and considers it her home event. She said the fans provided a boost when she fell behind. "It was like, Oh my gosh, if I can just hang in here and just try to enjoy myself," she said. "Honestly the crowd pulled me through. I heard some fans go, Go Serena." Williams has played in the tournament 14 times and also won the final in 2002-04, 2007-08 and 2013. She has celebrated so many titles she couldnt remember the first one. "Who was it against?" she said. "Venus?" Actually, she lost finals to her sister Venus in 1999, and to Victoria Azarenka in 2009. She beat Jennifer Capiati for her first two Key Biscayne titles, and the others came against Elena Dementieva, Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova. Li, who won the Australian Open in January, was at the top of her game for most of the first set. Even so, she couldnt close it out. "Only one mistake: I think I should go party last night," Li said with a smile. Williams committed six unforced errors in the opening game, and it took her 16 minutes to win a game. She double-faulted to fall behind 5-2, but then won 11 of the final 12 games, a surge worthy of a champion. Stitched Diamondbacks Jerseys . -- Joe Thornton scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:39 left in regulation to help the San Jose Sharks overcome a two-goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 on Thursday night. Arizona Diamondbacks Shirts .She struggled with a hacking cough, she was sick, and she twice celebrated too early, but she held her composure in a 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory on Saturday.On her third match point, she let her racket go before hearing a let call to what she thought was an ace. https://www.cheapdiamondbacksjerseys.us/. In his first game with Boston University, the 17-year-old Eichel picked up five assists as his Boston University Terriers thumped St. Cheap Diamondbacks Jerseys . The defeat leaves the 41-year-old Nestor to concentrate on the mixed-doubles event after winning 12 straight matches and winning Australian titles in Brisbane and Sydney with two different partners. "This was a little bit of a let down, but all credit to them," said Nestor. Wholesale Diamondbacks Jerseys . Martin Reway and David Griger both recorded four points with a goal and three assists each. Mario Lunter, Daniel Gachulinec and Stanislav Horansky also scored for Slovakia (1-0). Dominik Kahun had both goals for Germany (0-2), who lost its opening match to Canada 7-2 on Thursday.LOS ANGELES -- Doc Rivers couldnt begin the Los Angeles Clippers only day of preparation for Game 7 in the film room or on the practice court. The coach was downtown at the Clippers team offices Friday, meeting with an angry roomful of ticket-sellers and marketers still outraged by owner Donald Sterlings racist comments. "Ill say this much: Our players thought about not working. So did our employees, and they still felt that way," Rivers said. "They needed somebody to ask them to continue to work and support us. Were still trying to put this thing together." For both the Clippers and the Golden State Warriors, basketball has been secondary for much of this extraordinary series. But after the most tumultuous week in Clippers history, the first round is finally down to its grand finale. The Clippers will host a seventh game for the first time in franchise history on Saturday night, hoping to draw energy from their Staples Center crowd for a cathartic victory. The winner gets a second-round date with Oklahoma City or Memphis. "Weve got to protect home court," Clippers centre DeAndre Jordan said Friday. "Our season is tomorrow." The Warriors have been just one obstacle faced by the Clippers, who endured sleepless nights and immense scrutiny while their owner was exposed and subsequently banned for life from the NBA between playoff games. Los Angeles has lost two of three games since the Sterling saga began, playing lifelessly in Game 4 before struggling along with the Warriors in Game 6 on Thursday night. When the Clippers went back to work Friday, Sterling-related memorabilia had been removed from the trophy case in the hallway at their palatial $60 million training complex built by Sterling six years ago. Even the "Sterling Drive" sign outside the Playa Vista facility had been taken down. The Clippers missed their chance to wrap the series in Oakland, but the Pacific Division champions played all year for the chance to finish a series on their home court. "Its going to be tough, and youre going to face adversity, and we clearly have faced adversity in this round," said Blake& Griffin, who managed just 17 points on 8-for-24 shooting in Game 6.dddddddddddd"I think its just important that we all stayed the course and had positive thoughts about it. It is a Game 7, but its still a playoff game. It doesnt change a whole lot." Neither team plans to spend much time working on tactics or adjustments after six games of seeing everything their opponent has to offer. Both teams arent saying much about various nagging injuries, from Chris Pauls strained left hamstring for the Clippers to Jermaine ONeals sprained right knee for Golden State. Instead, two relatively inexperienced playoff teams are eager to show off everything theyve learned about perseverance and toughness over the past two weeks, culminating in a rare winner-take-all finish to their series. "Im not sure that both teams love each other, but Im pretty positive that both teams have tremendous respect for each other," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. The Clippers core played a Game 7 two years ago, beating Memphis on the road for just their second playoff series victory since Sterling bought the team in 1981. Jordan and Griffin said there was little to draw from that victory, with Jordan barely remembering it. The Warriors havent played a Game 7 since 1977, no surprise for a franchise with just three playoff berths in the last 20 years. When asked if an injury could keep him out of Game 7, Paul scoffed. "Ill be there," Paul said. "Seven-thirty, that balls throwed up, Ill be there. Cant wait." Even with the Clippers on the front page during this series, Golden State has plenty of its own internal drama. Jackson could be coaching his final game for the Warriors after the club ownerships reluctance to publicly back his return despite the most successful two-year stretch in two decades. "I think weve had more controversy than them throughout this whole season that gets overlooked, kind of thrown under the rug a little bit," Golden States Andre Iguodala said. "Weve had some battles this year weve had to deal with, but its kept us together and made us stronger." ' ' '

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