tumbling, lunging, squealing, flailing her arms and scolding

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Maria Sharapova needed nine match points before she finally closed out a win Saturday in the third round of the Sony Open, beating Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-2. No. 1-ranked Serena Williams won a marathon, too, taking 2 1/2 hours to eliminate Caroline Garcia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Mens No. 1 Rafael Nadal began a bid for his first Key Biscayne title by beating Lleyton Hewitt 6-1, 6-3. Sharapova had two match points in the tiebreaker, and seven more in the final game. The No. 26-seeded Safarova stayed alive with a succession of vital winners. "She kept hitting unbelievable shots," Sharapova said. "One more. One more. I said, How many chances are you going to get?" With the capacity crowd in a frenzy, a long exchange on the final point ended with Safarova pushing a weary forehand into the net. She then shared a hug with Sharapova. The match took three hours and ended at 10 p.m. to conclude an 11-hour day session on the stadium court, with two night-session matches yet to come. "After a match like that, its tough to have only one winner," Sharapova said, "because both players give a lot and both want to win so much." Williams match was a thriller, too. A succession of long rallies left her grunting, stumbling, lunging, squealing, flailing her arms and scolding herself. Despite all the drama and trauma, she moved one round closer to a record seventh Key Biscayne title. Williams is playing in her first tournament after a monthlong layoff, and rustiness might explain her 41 unforced errors, including seven double-faults. And the 20-year-old Garcia kept Williams on her heels with deep groundstrokes and serves that topped out at 117 mph. "I can play a hundred times better," Williams said. "I really gave myself a tremendous amount of trouble out there. Granted she played great, but I made so many errors ... 40-something errors. Its not the way to play professional tennis. Maybe amateur." Three-time champion Novak Djokovic was off Saturday but advanced to the fourth round anyway when his next scheduled opponent, Florian Mayer, withdrew because of a groin injury. Djokovics next match will be Tuesday. Stanislas Wawrinka bounced back from his first loss of the year by beating Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. No. 7 Tomas Berdych joined Wawrinka in the third round by beating Stephane Robert 7-6 (5), 6-1. No. 10-seeded John Isner rallied to win an all-American matchup against Donald Young, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Isner is back in the top 10 this week for the first time in 18 months. Sam Querrey, Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock lost second-round matches. That left Isner as the lone remaining American in the mens draw, reflecting the state of U.S. tennis. Williams and Garcia engaged in a succession of side-to-side baseline exchanges that had the stadium crowd roaring. But she finished in a hurry, serving out the final game at love with the help of consecutive aces. Reigning Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has predicted that Garcia will someday climb to No. 1, but the Frenchwoman is now 0-3 against Williams. "Its always nice to play against a big player," Garcia said. "You are working and practicing to play this match, because its in this kind of match you can learn more. But next time I prefer to win." Williams is playing for the 14th time at Key Biscayne, an hour from her home in Palm Beach Gardens. She won the event for the first time in 2002 and tied Andre Agassis record of six titles last year. Blake Wood Jersey . The Swiss won on the fastest run-time tiebreaker after the four-racer teams tied 2-2. Wendy Holdener and Reto Schmidiger won their final heats against Julia Mancuso and Tim Jitloff, respectively. Chris Young Jersey . - The Pittsburgh Pirates plan on keeping promising left fielder Starling Marte playing alongside National League MVP Andrew McCutchen for years to come. http://www.angelsteamshop.com/Angels-Nolan-Ryan-Kids-Jersey/. Erik Cole scored on a breakaway with 4:49 to play, and the Stars rallied to defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Saturday night. Shohei Ohtani Jersey . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. Martin Maldonado Jersey . The 36-year-old Colts receiver is going back to the playoffs as a division champion.Andy Murray has revealed the secret behind the personalised notes that fuelled his Wimbledon triumph and will inspire his bid for more Olympic glory. Murray was often seen reading a sheet of paper in breaks between games as he marched to a historic second Wimbledon title in July and the Scot offered a rare insight into the motivational notes after his success at the All England Club.The 29-year-old, who has worked with a sports psychologist in the past, writes down important aspects of his game-plan to focus on during each match and sprinkles in inspirational reminders of his qualities. As Murray prepares to defend the Olympics singles gold medal he won in London four years ago, the world No 2 will again turn to his notes for guidance in Rio. Murray beat Roger Federer in the final at Wimbledon Theyre personal notes. Some of them stay the same the whole time. Theyre basic things I remind myself to do during the matches, Murray said. When I play my best tennis I feel like Im doing these things. They would be like, Make sure youre moving your feet when youre nervous. People have a tendency when theyre nervous to not move, not use their legs.I think when I play my best tennis, I do this, X, Y and Z, whatever it is on the notes. Then I have some notes of the tactics for the match.Sometimes when youre in the heat of a second set tie-break in a slam final, its easy to forget exactly what youre trying to do. Andy Murray of Great Britain attends the winners press conference at Wimbledon Sometimes I just look at the tactics that Ive written down for the match. I refer to them at change of ends. I find it helps me.Murrays notes are typical of the perfectionist nature of the British star, who will travel to Brazil refreeshed after a long break in the aftermath of his draining fortnight at Wimbledon.ddddddddddddis imperious march to the title culminated in a final victory over Milos Raonic which made him the first British man to win multiple All England Club crowns since Fred Perry in the 1930s.Determined to recover mentally and physically in time for the Olympics, Murray opted out of Great Britains Davis Cup quarter-final win over Serbia and also withdrew from the Rogers Cup in Toronto.That will leave the three-time Grand Slam champion with no match action under his belt since Wimbledon.Instead, Murray was due to fly to Mallorca to begin his Olympic preparations with a 10-day training camp including practice time with injury-plagued Spanish star Rafael Nadal. Murray cheered on his GB team-mates as they beat Serbia in the Davis Cup For all Murrays success at the majors, the Olympics will always retain a special place, having lost in a tearful Wimbledon final to Roger Federer, Murray returned to the All England Club weeks later to avenge that painful defeat.Inspired by seeing Mo Farah and a host of other British athletes take gold on home turf, Murray routed Federer in the Olympic final - becoming the first British man to win the singles gold medal in tennis since 1908. He also earned a silver medal with Laura Robson in the mixed doubles.It was a far cry from Murrays Olympic debut in 2008 when he suffered a first-round loss to Taiwans Lu Yen-Hsun in Beijing. Murray has his sights set on taking home another medal from Rio.You obviously want to try to win a medal. Yeah, Im looking forward to it, Murray added. I love being involved in the Olympics, hopefully I can have a good run there. Also See: Federer set to miss rest of 2016 Bencic withdraws from Rio Sky Live: Thursday at the tennis Get a NOW TV pass Stitched College Jerseys Cheap UCLA Jerseys NCAA Louisville Cardinals Jerseys North Carolina Jerseys Stitched Kentucky Wildcats Jerseys Stitched Alabama Crimson Tide Jerseys Cheap Basketball Wisconsin Badgers Jerseys Authentic NCAA Jerseys Store Wholesale Basketball NCAA Jerseys Cheap Duke Gear Stitched Alabama Jerseys Stitched Georgia Jerseys Cheap Clemson Jerseys Authentic Authentic Texas Jerseys Wholesale USC Jerseys Stitched Oklahoma Jerseys Stitched Ohio State Jerseys Cheap Notre Dame Gear UCLA Jerseys From China Cheap Louisville Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap North Carolina Jerseys Authentic Cheap Kentucky Jerseys Authentic Wisconsin Jerseys From China Cheap Michigan Gear Cheap Florida Gear Wholesale Arizona State Jerseys Cheap LSU Gear Cheap Auburn Gear Cheap California Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Miami Jerseys Authentic Cheap Michigan State Gear Cheap Tennessee Jerseys Authentic Texas A&M Jerseys From China Authentic Wake Forest Jerseys West Virginia Jerseys From China ' ' '