CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Venus Williams couldnt dig herself out of a hole this time and lost to Montreals Eugenie Bouchard 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-4 at the Family Circle Cup on Thursday. The 33-year-old Williams had fought back in each of her first two matches to advance. She seemed to follow the same game-plan in this one, rallying from a set down to win the second set and lead 2-1 in the third. Thats when the 20-year-old Canadian, took over, breaking Williams serve twice down the stretch including the final game. "I think Ive shown to myself how mentally strong I can be," said Bouchard, seeded sixth at the Family Circle. "Today was really a mental battle. It was a bit ugly at times and tough on the court, but I fought through it." Bouchard finished things off by reaching Williams drop shot and pushing it into the open court for her first victory over the seven-time Grand Slam champion. "She played a lot more consistently than I did," Williams said. "I think my errors really hurt me a lot today. Just a lot of up and down, a lot of errors." Especially in two key stretches when it looked as if the 33-year-old Williams was ready to take control. Bouchard was ahead 5-3 in the opening set when Williams rallied and held two set points in the tiebreaker. But Bouchard won the next four points, including a crisp backhand for a winner to secure the set. When Williams moved on top in the third set, Bouchard did not panic but dug in to move on to her third quarter-final round this year. "Ive just kind of raised my game a little bit and was extra solid on those important points," Bouchard said. Bouchard will next face second-seed Jelena Jankovic, the 2007 Family Circle champion who at No. 8 in world is the highest-ranked player remaining in the tournament. Jankovic defeated Croatias Ajla Tomljanovic 7-5, 6-1. Jankovic has reached the Family Circle quarter-finals in six of the past seven seasons. Shes been beaten by a Williams sister each of the last two years, falling to Venus in 2012 and to Serena in last years championship finals. Jankovic struggled early as the 20-year-old Tomljanovic fought off a set point to tie the opening set at 5-all. Jankovic then won eight of the next nine games to move forward. "I missed that overhead on my set point, which was kind of frustrating, and we levelled it at 5 5," Jankovic said. "But I was able to stay calm and regroup and finish that set. So that was very important." Williams defeat was part of a difficult day for past champions of the clay-court event. Along with 2004 winner Williams, two other previous Family Circle champs in Sabine Lisicki (2009) and Samantha Stosur (2010) lost third-round matches. Lisicki, the fourth seed, fell to German countrywoman Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 6-0. Stosur, seeded seventh, was beaten by No. 9 seed Lucie Safarova 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. The loss ends a run of success for the Williams family on the courts here. Sister Serena was the two-time defending tournament champion before losing Tuesday night. Venus played with the Washington Kastles on the green clay to win the 2012 World Team Tennis title. Venus Williams had been bothered by an illness that she said limited her endurance this week. She had to come from behind in her first two matches here to face Bouchard and did not have enough stamina to wait out her opponents solid, flat ground strokes. "That kind of made it more challenging. I mean I think normally I would probably be able to challenge the points a little bit longer and just make her play more shots and just be more willing to play longer points," Williams said. Williams was the 2004 Family Circle champion. She reached the semifinals here last year where she lost to sister Serena, the eventual champion. Others advancing to the round of eight included third-seed Sara Errani, who outlasted Peng Shuai, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5); unseeded Jana Cepelova, who defeated 13th-seed Elena Visnina 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3; and 12th-seed Daniela Hantuchova, who beat Teliana Pereira 6-2, 6-3. Errani rallied in each of her sets to eliminate Peng, the worlds top-ranked doubles player. For Cepelova, it was her second big victory of this event after knocking off world No. 1 Serena Williams in a stunner Tuesday night. .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. . Huntelaar also had a penalty saved by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. The two goals brought Huntelaars total for the season to 18, level with Bayern Munichs Mario Gomez for most in the league.
http://www.airmaxnederland.nl/. According to a release sent by the league, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were the only team to exceed the cap. Their total salary expenditure of $4,417,975 was $17,975 over the salary cap of $4. .Brooks, a three-year veteran, was slow to get up after suffering the injury during a 5-yard run by Arian Foster.Brooks limped off the field midway through the quarter and then slowly walked to the locker room a few minutes later. . JOHNS, N.DAVIE, Fla. - Heres a list of Miami Dolphins coaches who never won a game by 37 points or more:Jimmy Johnson. Nick Saban. Tony Sparano. Dave Wannstedt. Cam Cameron. Todd Bowles. Jim Bates. George Wilson.Now Joe Philbin has done it. One day after a stunning 37-0 victory over San Diego, Philbin offered this message: Dont get used to it.We cant anticipate were going to shut out our next eight opponents, Philbin said Monday. Thats not real life in the National Football League. And its hard to average 37 points a game in the NFL over an eight-game stretch. Were going to have to find new ways to win, and just keep improving.The Dolphins improved to 5-3 with their most lopsided victory since 1995, when Don Shula was still in charge. That was eight coaches ago.After 2 1/2 years in Miami, Philbin is at .500 (20-20), his job future beyond this season still uncertain. But with three consecutive victories, Philbin is on the verge of a breakthrough, because he has never had a team win four in a row.A lack of sustained success is one reason Miami hasnt been to the playoffs since 2008.The Dolphins won three in a row in 2012, Philbins first season, then lost three in a row. They enjoyed a 3-0 start in 2013, then lost the next four. They won three in a row last December, then endured a late-season meltdown and lost their final two games.How will this team handle success?Its a good question, Philbin said. Its one weve got to answer.The win over San Diego was an emotional one, with Philbin receiving a game ball from owner Stephen Ross. The coach missed two days of practice last week to be with his father, who died Friday, and Philbin will be absent again Tuesday and Wednesday to attend the funeral.When it comes to the more mundane matter of wins and losses, Philbin appears to have things headed in the right direction.ddddddddddddWere a better team today than we were Oct. 1, or than we were in September, Philbin said. The challenge every week is to find ways to improve.Miami is an underdog Sunday at NFC North leader Detroit (6-2), and still off the radar with many playoff prognosticators. Receiver Mike Wallace said hed prefer the rest of the league not take note of the latest win.Hopefully not, so we can do the same thing next week, Wallace said. Hopefully, nobody ever catches on. Hopefully, people just keep taking us easy, so we come away with wins like this.The Dolphins look like more than one-game wonders. For the first time since 1997, theyve scored at least 24 points in five consecutive games, according to STATS. Theyve outscored opponents during that span 153-68. The lone loss during that stretch came in the final seconds against Green Bay, leaving them one play from a five-game winning streak.Midway through his third season, Ryan Tannehill is blossoming at quarterback. He ranks only 28th in the league in yards per attempt, but over past five games he has completed 68 per cent of his attempts while averaging 8.2 yards per pass, with a rating of 104.1.Meanwhile, the defence leads NFL in yards allowed per play, yards allowed per pass and first downs. Miami ranks second in pass defence, third in total defence and fourth in rushing.Nows not the time to savour statistics, defensive co-ordinator Kevin Coyle said.Were only halfway through, he said. You look down the road, weve got a few dicey ones on the horizon.The next three games are against teams who are a combined 17-7. The Dolphins might just be built for the challenge.___AP NFL website:
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