Einsteigerforum » Nunn had 10 points as the Illini lost for only the

Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka and former titlist Maria Sharapova were first-round victors in Tuesdays action at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the year. On a sweltering Day 2 at Melbourne Park, the former world No. 1 Azarenka, seeded second, defeated Swede Johanna Larsson 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, while the third-seeded former top-ranked star Sharapova handled American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-4. Azarenka, who lost to the great Serena Williams in a final in Sydney two weeks ago, was tested at Rod Laver Arena. "Yeah it was a tough set first. The match was going to be tricky ... the weather was not helping," Azarenka said. "I had to play a little bit and find my rhythm." Azarenka hasnt lost at this event since 2011, as she defeated two-time runner-up Li Na in last years final and Maria Sharapova in the 2012 championship match. Her second-round opponent on Thursday will be Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, while up next for the career Grand Slam winner Sharapova will be Italian Karin Knapp. Sharapova reached the semifinals the last two years in Melbourne, titled here in 2008, and is a two-time Aussie runner-up. Meanwhile, fifth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska had her hands full with Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, but eventually posted a 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 victory, and eighth-seeded former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia whipped Japans Misaki Doi 6-1, 6-2. The former Wimbledon runner-up Radwanskas second-round opponent will be Belarusian Olga Govortsova. Tenth-seeded former top-ranked star Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark drilled Spains Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-0, 6-2, while 11th-seeded rising Romanian Simona Halep also had little trouble in a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Polands Katarzyna Piter, and 13th-seeded American Sloane Stephens erased Kazakhstans Yaroslava Shvedova 7-6 (7-1), 6-3. Stephens shocked Williams in a quarterfinal bout here a year ago. Playing her first Grand Slam match since her New Years Eve engagement to golfer Rory McIlroy, Wozniacki did everything she could to keep cool on Tuesday. "Every time in the changeovers, ice bags, ice towels, everything; and then in the second set I could feel they were starting to heat up even more," Wozniacki said. "I put the bottle down on the court and it started melting a little bit underneath, the plastic, so you knew it was warm." Sixteenth seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain moved on with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over American Vania King, while Ukrainian Elina Svitolina swept past 19th-seeded two-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-3, 6-3, and 20th-seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova subdued former French Open champ Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4. In other action involving seeds, New Zealands Marina Erakovic doused No. 21 Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 7-6 (8-6); Spains Garbine Muguruza, fresh off her first career WTA title in Hobart last week, took out No. 24 Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6-2, 2-6, 6-2; No. 25 Frenchwoman Alize Cornet was leading Slovenian Polona Hercog 1-0 in the opening set when Hercog retired; No. 29 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bested Brazilian Teliana Pereira 7-6 (9-7), 6-4; No. 32 Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova got past former top-10 German Andrea Petkovic 6-2, 6-3; and No. 33 Serb Bojana Jovanovski overcame Slovak Jana Cepelova 6-7 (1-7), 6-1, 6-3. Several other women reached the second round, including Americans Christina McHale and Varvara Lepchenko, Italian Camila Giorgi, and Japans Ayumi Morita and Kurumi Nara. The second round will commence Wednesday, as the current world No. 1 Williams will take on Serb Vesna Dolonc. Williams is a 17-time major singles champ, including an Open Era-record five Aussie Open crowns, with her last one coming in 2010. In other action involving top-10 seeds, a No. 4 Li will encounter Swiss Belinda Bencic and No. 9 German Angelique Kerber will battle Russian Alla Kudryavtseva. Also on Day 3, 14th-seeded former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic will face German Annika Beck and 15th-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki of Germany will tangle with Romanian Monica Niculescu. Rollie Fingers Jersey . The Yankees made the moves before Tuesdays game against Baltimore. Robertson was listed retroactive to Monday. Robertson posted two saves in three games as the replacement for retired Yankees closer Mariano Rivera before getting hurt. Wil Myers Padres Jersey . - Regan Smith had the checkered flag in sight at Daytona a year ago and a freight train of cars in his rearview mirror. http://www.padressale.com/padres-aaron-loup-jersey/ . -- Top-ranked Stacy Lewis birdied the last three holes and five of the final six Thursday for an 8-under 64 and a share of the lead with Mi Jung Hur in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic. Franchy Cordero Padres Jersey .ca presents a week long look at some of the teams and stories that will shape the up coming campaign. Eric Hosmer Jersey .Y. -- Defenceman Ryan Murphy had a goal and an assist and Drew MacIntyre made 24 saves to help the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 4-2 in an exhibition game Wednesday night.INDIANAPOLIS -- This time, Jordan Morgan got the ball to bounce the right way -- and Michigan celebrated. A little more than one year after missing a last-second tip-in that would have given the Wolverines a share of the Big Ten regular-season title, the 6-foot-8 forward scored on a layup with 7.9 seconds left to give No. 8 Michigan a 64-63 victory over Illinois in Fridays Big Ten tournament quarterfinals and a shot at another league championship. "Im telling you -- I probably exaggerate -- 10,000 times, at least 2,000 times in five years Jordan Morgan has run that same drill," coach John Beilein said. "Theres a bag to hit him, you still got to catch it in a crowd and keep it up and dunk it if he can. He said he wanted to add a little drama to the game, so he decided to put it up on the rim. Illinois had a chance to win it when Tracy Abrams drove in for a layup, expecting contact, but the ball hit the front of the rim and bounced off. No foul was called. Its about time something went right for the Wolverines (24-7) in this tournament. Since going 3-0 to win the first title in 1998, Michigan has not won more than one game in the annual tourney. The Wolverines later vacated that tourney title because of NCAA infractions, and Michigan has endured everything from an embarrassing 21-turnover game in a 2006 first-round loss to Evan Turners buzzer-beating 40-foot heave, which gave rival Ohio State a 69-68 quarterfinal win in 2010. Things are supposed to be different this year. After ending a 28-year drought between outright regular-season titles with a win at Illinois last week, Michigan came into this weekend with the No. 1 tourney seed for the first time in school history and with a full head of steam -- six straight wins. But it almost happened again. Michigan blew a 13-point second-half lead, scored just six points in the final 7 1/2 minutes and then wound up getting bailed out by Morgan when Big Ten player of the year changed the play coach John Beilein called in the huddle. "I was looking to be aggressive and raised up to shoot and man, the guy guarding me was still chasing me and the big was chasing me too and J-Mo rolled down the lane and he was wide open," Stauskas said. "I hit him with the ball and he laid it in." The Wolverines usual trio led tthe way.dddddddddddd Stauskas had 19 points despite going 4 of 12 from the field and 2 of 10 on 3-pointers against Illinois zone defence, Glenn Robinson III had 15 points and seven rebounds and Caris LeVert finished with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. Yet it was Morgan, who wound up the star. He made the only two shots he took -- none bigger than the layup he never expected that sent Michigan into Saturdays semifinals against either fourth-seeded Nebraska or fifth-seeded Ohio State, who played in the second quarterfinal of the day. Michigan swept Nebraska this season and won at Ohio State in this seasons only meeting with the Buckeyes. Morgan, who missed the shot that gave Indiana last years outright regular season title, made this one. "As far as catching it, I just put it on the rim and got a nice roll," he said matter-of-factly. Ninth-seeded Illinois (19-14) was on the cusp of pulling off a major upset after finally retaking a 59-58 lead on Rices driving layup with 4:53 left. The Illini allowed just one 3-pointer, one free throw but couldnt stop Morgans layup the rest of the way. Abrams and Rayvonte Rice each finished with 11 points. Kendrick Nunn had 10 points as the Illini lost for only the second time in seven games. "Its obviously an uncontested shot that I probably could make," Abrams said. "We obviously wanted to get that one in and we wanted to win, but there was a lot of other plays that we can account back to that we could have did different or could have got an extra rebound." Illinois zone defence changed game. Following a media timeout with 11:26 left, Stauskas made two free throws to give the Wolverines a 55-44 lead. The Illini answered with 10 straight points and finally took the lead on Rices driving layup with 4:53 left. Michigan tied the score at 61 with 3:10 to go, but all the Wolverines could muster the rest of the way was one free throw from Stauskas until the surprised Morgan got the right roll. "Well, were thrilled to get that win because as you can see, as Illinois has shown in their last six games, how well the program has played after a tough January," Beilein said. "They proved how good they were, and, fortunately, we got some good bounces around the basket to finish the game." ' ' '