Forum » men Christopher Tanev (broken fingers) and Andrew Alberts

Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will meet in Saturdays womens Australian Open final after both women cruised to straight-set victories on Thursday. Williams, looking to win her sixth Aussie Open title, took out fellow American Madison Keys 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 to reach the final. With the first set all even at 5-5, Williams was on serve when Keys went up 30-15 in the 11th game, but Williams took the next three points before Keys smashed a backhand down the line to knot it up at 40-all. Williams ended up taking the next two points to win the game, then Keys kept the back-and- forth affair going with an ace to force a tiebreak. Williams had set point, up 6-3, in the tiebreak when the 19-year-old Keys fired two aces to close within one, but Williams countered with an ace on her next serve to take the stanza. Williams pressured her opponent from the onset of the second set, taking the first game and breaking Keys in the process. However, Keys maintained composure and went up 40-15 in the next game. But Williams ended up grinding her way back and taking the game. After the two maintained serve over the next two games, Williams broke the unseeded Keys again and eased her way to the finish line. This was the first career meeting between Williams and Keys. The 33-year-old Williams is seeking her 19th Grand Slam singles championship and 65th career title overall. She is a perfect 5-0 in Aussie Open finals. Williams is tied with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the second- most womens Grand Slam titles in the Open Era behind Steffi Grafs 22. I didnt expect to get to the finals of this tournament when I first got here because I wasnt playing great, Williams said after reaching her first Melbourne Park finale since 2010. I didnt play well at Hopman. I was so off. I felt like I wasnt moving well. I just wasnt feeling great on the court. Its been so long since Ive even been in a final here. I was kind of like, oh, let me just try (and) my theory now is to relax and play the match as best as I can. When I step on the court and hear the announcer, I dont have to win anymore. I can just relax and have fun. Meanwhile, Sharapova reached her 10th career Grand Slam final by beating Russian countrymate Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets. The former world No. 1 Sharapova, seeded No. 2 here behind Williams, rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 win over the left-handed 10th seed Makarova in 87 minutes. The former Aussie Open champion double-faulted seven times, but tallied 23 winners, including three aces in the win. Sharapova has won 22 of her last 23 matches against fellow Russians and improved to 6-0 lifetime against Makarova, including 3-0 at the Australian Open following quarterfinals wins in 2012 and 2013. Its been a strange road for me to get to the finals, but Im happy, said Sharapova. Came from behind in a few, really behind in one -- saving match points. I felt like I was given a second chance. I just wanted to take my chances. The 26-year-old Makarova appeared in her second straight Grand Slam semifinal. She lost to Williams at last years U.S. Open. The 27-year-old Sharapova is chasing her sixth career Grand Slam championship and 35th overall WTA title. Shes 5-4 in Grand Slam finals, including 1-2 at the Australian Open. Sharapova titled here in 2008 and lost in Melbourne in 2007, to Serena, and 2012, to Victoria Azarenka. Sharapova has yet to lose in 2015, going 10-0, including a title run in Brisbane a few weeks ago. The powerful Williams is 16-2 lifetime against Sharapova, who has gone winless in their head-to-head series since 2004. The American is 4-1 in their Grand Slam matchups, including 2-0 in Melbourne. Sharapova beat Serena in the 2004 Wimbledon final. Discount Yeezy Store .com) - Devon Johnson ran for a school record 272 yards with four touchdowns and No. Fake Yeezy China .com) - The surprising Calgary Flames host the winless New Jersey Devils at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday. https://www.yeezychina.us/. The Hockey Canada Foundation is donating $50,000, with Hockey Quebec contributing $15,000. Hockey Canada also announced it will hold a skills camp for all levels of minor hockey in Lac-Mégantic during the 2013-14 season. Representatives from Hockey Canada, the Hockey Canada Foundation and Hockey Quebec were on hand Tuesday night at a meeting of the AHM de Lac-Mégantic to make the announcement and presentation. Cheap Yeezy Free Shipping . Over the course of his career Glenn is 79-71-1 in 151 starts for a .526 career winning percentage. Since becoming a Stampeder, he has elevated his play and raised his stock around the league. Wholesale Yeezy China . Rosbergs time of 1 minute, 33.185 seconds at the Bahrain International Circuit was a quarter of a second faster than Hamilton, who had to abandon his final flying lap after running wide at the first corner.EDMONTON - It wasnt much of a season, but the Edmonton Oilers managed to go out with a show-stopper to honour Ryan Smyth. Taylor Hall had three assists to hit 80 points on the season as the Oilers celebrated veteran forward Smyths final game in style, coming away with a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. "It was a special night," said Hall."To get a win and a nice win was great. Smitty wanted to go out on a win and a high note. That was his message before the game. We won it for him and it was good to see. It was a night I will never forget." Roman Horak, Jeff Petry, Will Acton, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers (29-44-9) who snapped a two-game losing skid in their final game of the season. The win moved the Oilers up a draft spot, as they leapfrogged the Florida Panthers into 28th place overall with Tuesdays NHL draft lottery looming. The fans, however, were more interested in seeing Smyth go out on a win after a career that saw him total 386 goals, 456 assists and 842 points in 1,270 career games. Smyth, was unable to get the power-play goal that would have given him the franchise record, remaining in a tie with Glenn Anderson at 126 for his career. Smyth was loudly cheered all night and no show of respect could have been bigger than the Canucks players coming back out on the ice to shake his hand after the final whistle, before the sobbing Alberta native said goodbye to his coaches and teammates. "I soaked every moment of it in," Smyth said. "It was an awesome experience that I will never forget for the rest of my life. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of putting on this jersey, and any jersey in the NHL. To see the fan appreciation form the start to the end… they are the best fans in the world. I am thoroughly honoured to stand up here today and say I enjoyed every moment." Shawn Matthias and Zack Kassian replied for the Canucks (35-35-11) who have not had a strong finishing run to their season, losing six of their last seven with one game still to be played. "We gave them too many primary scoring chances and a team like that theyre going to score," Kassian said. "We got a lot of shots, but we didnt get a lot of scoring chances for us." However, even the Vancouver players were mainly interested in talking about Smyths final night and how they were glad to be able to go up to him after the game and pay their respects. "We talked about having to do something for him," said captain Henrik Sedin. "Hes been such a big part of the Oilers, you talk about a lot of big names and hes up there with the best. It was fun to be a part of it." "Its terrific," added Canucks coach John Tortorella. "Thats what you love about our athletes in our game, its that mutual respect amongst one another after the game is over. Ryan Smyth deserves that and I thought our guys handled themselves very well." Edmonton started the scoring just 2:14 into the game as Steven Pinizzotto made a pass from behind the net to Horak in the slot and the recent AHL call-up rifled his first of the yeear past Canucks starting goalie Jacob Markstrom.dddddddddddd The assist was Pinizzottos first-career NHL point. Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens withstood a barrage of early shots to keep Vancouver off the board and as a result Edmonton made it 2-0 with seven minutes left to play in the first. Nugent-Hopkins was able to get the puck to a pinching Petry in front and he beat Markstrom high to the glove side for this seventh of the year. Vancouver out-shot the Oilers 18-5 in the first period. Oddly enough the Oilers also scored 2:14 into the second period to make it 3-0 as a Philip Larsen shot hit a stick in front, but the clearing attempt went directly to Acton, who zipped home his third of the season. The Canucks got on the board five-and-a-half minutes into the second as Scrivens attempted a diving poke check on Matthias, but the momentum carried the puck into the net anyway to make it 3-1. Edmonton made it 4-1 with four minutes left in the second as Eberle tried to hit Smyth in front for this record-setting power-play goal, but the puck caromed in off defender Alexander Edler instead. "On the replay, we thought maybe he spun around and hit it," Eberle said of the hope that Smyth would be credited with the goal. "We were hoping that it was his. We were trying to do everything we could to get the puck to the net for him so he could tip it. We tried so hard." The Oilers took a four-goal lead a minute-and-a-half into the third period after a Martin Marincin shot created a scramble in front and Canucks defender Nicklas Jensen inadvertently chipped the puck off the skate of Nugent-Hopkins and in. The Canucks made the score look a little better with a goal by Kassian with just 11 seconds left in the game. Vancouver out-shot Edmonton 42-22 overall. The Canucks still have one game left to play before their season is officially over, returning home to play the Calgary Flames on Sunday. Edmonton is now officially done, missing the playoffs for a league-high eighth straight season. Notes- It was the fifth and final game of the season between the divisional rivals. The Canucks won the first three games by a combined score of 12-3 before Edmonton won the fourth match-up 4-2 on Jan. 27… Smyth concluded his NHL career after spending 15 of his 20 seasons in the league for the Oilers, ranking second on the franchises all-time list with 971 games played. He was given the Oilers captains C for the game… It was Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 21st birthday… College free agent forward Michael Zalewski, who signed with Vancouver on Mar. 14 after playing this past season with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, played his first NHL game... Out for the Canucks were defencemen Christopher Tanev (broken fingers) and Andrew Alberts (concussion) and center Mike Santorelli (shoulder surgery)… Absent with injuries from the Oilers lineup were forwards Sam Gagner (ankle), Nail Yakupov (broken ankle), Ryan Jones (torn PCL), Boyd Gordon (shoulder), Jesse Joensuu (high ankle sprain) and Luke Gazdic (shoulder), as well as defenceman Andrew Ference (pectoral tear). ' ' '