Tips & Tricks » Loeffel and Francis Bouillon added second-peri

Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Top seed and five-time titlist Serena Williams and last years runner-up Li Na both notched straight-set victories Wednesday in second-round action at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the year. Serena dropped just three games for the second straight match, earning a 6-1, 6-2 win over Serb Vesna Dolonc at Rod Laver Arena to improve to 60-8 at Melbourne Park, equaling Margaret Courts record for match wins at the tournament in the Open Era. Wednesday was another scorching hot day in Melbourne. "I just try to hit a bunch of aces and a bunch of winners -- thats all you can do because its too hot to get into long rallies," Serena said. The reigning U.S. and French Open champion will square off with Daniela Hantuchova in the third round after the 31st-seeded Slovak outlasted Czech Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 3-6, 12-10. The fourth-seeded Li, who lost to two-time reigning champion Victoria Azarenka in last years Aussie finale, bageled Belinda Bencic in a 22-minute first set, but faced much more resistance in the second as the 16-year-old Swiss wild card forced a tiebreak. The Chinese star, however, was able to gut out a 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) victory. "Its warm, but its OK," Li said after the match. Lucie Safarova awaits the two-time Aussie Open runner-up and former French Open champion Li in the third round after the 26th-seeded Czech claimed a 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-0 victory over countrymate Lucie Hradecka. Last weeks Sydney runner-up, ninth-seeded German Angelique Kerber, cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Russian Alla Kudryavtseva and will take on American Alison Riske in the third round after Riske whipped Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 6-1. Aussie crowd favorite Sam Stosur, the No. 17 seed, secured her spot in the round of 32 with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, who was fresh off her first-ever WTA title in Sydney last week. Stosur will next face 14th-seeded Ana Ivanovic after the former world No. 1 from Serbia drilled Annika Beck of Germany 6-1, 6-2. Ivanovic was an Aussie Open finalist in 2008. No. 15 seed Sabine Lisicki and 18th-seeded Kirsten Flipkens each suffered surprising setbacks on Day 3. Romanian Monica Niculescu sent last years Wimbledon runner-up Lisicki to an early exit, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, while Aussie wild card Casey Dellacqua downed the Belgian Flipkens 6-3, 6-0. Next up for Niculescu will be Russian Ekaterina Makarova, who advanced with a 6-2, 7-5 triumph over American Irina Falconi. The 22nd-seeded Makarova dismissed seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams in Mondays opening-round action. No. 28 seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy posted a 6-3, 6-4 decision against Puerto Rican Monica Puig to set up a third-round matchup with German Mona Barthel, who overcame Thailands Luksika Kumkhum 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Kumkhum was coming off an upset win over sixth-seeded Petra Kvitova in round one. Also on Wednesday, 30th-seeded Canadian Eugenie Bouchard registered a hard- fought 6-2, 7-6 (12-10) victory over Frances Virginie Razzano, Chinese Zheng Jie moved on with a 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 7-5 win over American Madison Keys and American Lauren Davis outlasted German Julia Goerges 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. The second round will conclude on Thursday, including matches for the second- seeded Azarenka and her third-seeded fellow former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova. Azarenka will face Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, while Sharapova will take on Italian Karin Knapp. Azarenka hasnt lost in Melbourne since 2011, having bested Li in last years Aussie final and defeating Sharapova in the 2012 finale. Sharapova titled here in 2008. In other action involving top-10 seeds, No. 5 former Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska will battle Belarusian Olga Govortsova, No. 8 former world No. 1 and former U.S. Open runner-up Jelena Jankovic will trade shots with Japans Ayumi Morita and No. 10 former top-ranked star and former U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki will be opposed by American Christina McHale. Also seeing action on Thursday will be 11th-seeded Simona Halep and 13th- seeded American Sloane Stephens, who stunned Serena in a quarterfinal here a year ago. Alex Iafallo Jersey .I shared with him how much I appreciated all he had done for us, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of that Thursday night farewell. Christian Folin Jersey . The Rays hope to stay alive for the postseason and salvage the finale of this series Sunday at Rogers Centre, where they dropped a 7-2 decision Saturday. Chris Archer lasted 2 1/3 innings in the no-decision, charged with a run and five hits, and Alex Torres suffered the loss in relief. http://www.cheaplosangeleskingsjerseys.com/?tag=adidas-dustin-brown-jersey . - Nikita Jevpalovs scored 6:22 into the second overtime as the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada edged the visiting Rimouski Oceanic 2-1 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. Jeff Carter Jersey . -- Novak Djokovic benefited from an erroneous call and claimed he didnt realize he had broken the rules. Adrian Kempe Jersey . -- The Orlando Magic finally are showing the patience in critical moments that coach Jacque Vaughn has been waiting for all season.DAVOS, Switzerland - HC Geneve-Servette was sitting on a seemingly insurmountable 5-0 lead midway through its Spengler Cup semifinal against Canada.It turned out the defending champion would need every one of those goals. Geneve-Servette weathered a furious Canadian comeback and held on for a 6-5 win on Tuesday.We said we were going to come back, and we did, Canadian head coach Guy Boucher said after the game.One things for sure, when youre on the international scene and youre trailing 5-0, a lot of people would quit. I think we proved that were Canadians. Canadians dont quit. They fight and they make things happen.Geneve-Servette also beat Canada in last years semifinal on its way to its first Spengler Cup title, and the Swiss team looked like a lock to duplicate that feat early in Tuesdays game.Inti Pestoni and Tom Pyatt scored even-strength goals in the first period, then Romain Loeffel and Francis Bouillon added second-period power-play goals, ending Canadian goaltender Drew MacInttyres night.ddddddddddddWe put ourselves behind the 8-ball. What had been our strengths in the past games was to prevent goals and the penalty kill and all that, and today it didnt go the way we wanted it to, Boucher said.Timothy Kast appeared to put the game away with a short-handed goal on Canadas backup goaltender Nolan Schaefer at 10:25 of the second period.Canada responded quickly, however, with Mike Hedden answering Kasts goal just 29 seconds later.Goals from Ryan parent and Jerome Samson cut Geneve-Servettes lead to 5-3 after 40 minutes, then Alexandre Giroux scored 1:39 into the third to move Canada within a goal.Loeffels second power-play goal of the game sapped Canadas momentum and put the Swiss side up 6-4.Marc-Antoine Pouliot scored at 10:42 to again cut the lead to one, but Canada couldnt find the game-tying goal.HC Geneve-Servette will play Salavat Yulaev Ufa in Wednesdays final.The KHL club defeated host HC Davos 4-3 in a shootout in the early semifinal. ' ' '