match at her second opportunity. from zgr123's blog
LONDON -- For 2 1/2 hours, Venus Williams traded big serves and hard groundstrokes with Petra Kvitova on Centre Court. Ty Montgomery Youth Jersey . Williams was playing with some of the power and pace that had brought her five Wimbledon titles. But when it was over, she was left with a sense of disappointment. "The battle is always a little more enjoyable when you win," Williams said Friday after coming within two points of victory but losing 5-7, 7-6 (2), 7-5 to Kvitova, the 2011 champion. All four of their previous meetings went to three sets and this one was no different, with plenty of suspense, intensity, and only a few break points. Williams looked stronger early in the match and was up 5-4, 15-30 on Kvitovas serve, in the second set. But the Czech came up with some big serves, held and won the second set tiebreaker. The players then held serve for the first 11 games of the third set before Kvitova broke No. 30 Williams for the first time in the last game. "Its a shame there had to be a loser in this match and more of a shame that it had to be me," Williams said. Despite the loss, Williams had reasons to feel positive about her week in London. At the age of 34, she has been playing well this season, winning a title in Dubai and reaching the final in Auckland and Miami. This week, she got to the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for only the second time in her past 10 appearances. After her battle with Kvitova, she reiterated that retirement is not in her plans. More than that, Williams still believes in her ability to add to her total of seven Grand Slams. "People have been trying to retire me since I was like 25. For some reason in tennis we always do that to our players. Its weird," said Williams, who disclosed three years ago that she was diagnosed with an energy-sapping autoimmune disease. "We dont encourage them to stick around," she added. "Its like, Get out of here. So Im not getting out of here. I think this year has been a great year for me. Ive had some tough losses, but Ive learned a lot from them. Im finding my way back on my feet. Im proud of myself for what Im achieving on the court." The former No. 1 is next scheduled to play in Cincinnati and Montreal. She said she might add more tournaments to her summer schedule to keep improving her game. "So that way Ill just have a chance, when its really time to play good tennis, I would have had those matches under my belt," she said.Nick Perry Womens Jersey . On Thursday, they signed former Browns linebacker DQwell Jackson. Terms of the deal were not immediately available. Jared Cook Womens Jersey . The group of Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergei Fedorov, & Slava Kozlov were a dominant force for The Wings at one point in the 90s.EASTBOURNE, England -- Victoria Azarenka was reasonably satisfied after losing her first match in more than three months, a three-setter in the first round of the Aegon Championships on Tuesday. Azarenka, the former No. 1 recovered from a left foot injury, lost 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to Camila Giorgi of Italy after 2 hours, 46 minutes. "Thats exactly what I wanted," Azarenka said. "I wanted to have a competitive match. I wanted to test myself, to play for a long time, see how my body is going to react. "Im pretty pleased with what happened. Obviously the result is the result, but thats a beginning. Its a starting point. There are a lot of positive things that I can take from what happened today." Third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia was also beaten, going down 6-3, 6-3 against American Madison Keys, and second seed Petra Kvitova also struggled before beating fellow Czech Lucie Safarova 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (4), winning the last five points to claim victory on her third match point. Giorgi had previously demonstrated her grass-court skills by reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon as a qualifier in 2012, aand she was a third-round finisher last year. Eddie Lacy Packers Jersey. Azarenka won the first set from 4-2 down. Giorgi took a 5-0 lead in the second, saving five break points at 4-0. In the final set, Giorgi failed to serve out the match at 5-4, but broke again at 6-5 when Azarenka netted a backhand, and closed out the match at her second opportunity. Despite her defeat, Azarenka believed she was almost ready to compete again at the highest level. "I was really happy that I was there for every single moment, for every single ball," she said. "I felt that my level of concentration was really high. I just have to get into that rhythm." In other matches, former champion Ekaterina Makarova defeated Italian qualifier Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-3, and seventh-seeded Italian Sara Errani was beaten 7-6 (5), 6-2 by American qualifier Lauren Davis. There were also wins for sixth seed Flavia Pennetta, Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, Britains Johanna Konta and American Varvara Lepchenko. In the ATP event, seventh seed Santiago Giraldo of Colombia was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 by Jarkko Nieminen of Finland. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '
The Wall