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KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Serena Williams capitalized on a critical double-fault by Yaroslava Shvedova to survive a 69-minute first set and win her opening match at the Sony Open 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Thursday. "It was an incredibly tough first set," Williams said. "I just needed to relax and yet keep up the intensity." The top-ranked Williams seeks a record seventh Key Biscayne title, and her second in a row. No. 4-seeded Maria Sharapova, a five-time runner-up in the tournament, joined Williams in the third round by beating Kurumi Nara 6-3, 6-4. Seeded players had first-round byes. In mens play, former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt became the third active man to win 600 matches when he rallied past Robin Haase of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Fellow Australian Bernard Tomic lasted only 28 minutes in the shortest match since the ATP started keeping such records in 1991, losing to Jarkko Nieminen 6-0, 6-1. Tomic, who won just 13 points, is mounting a comeback from surgery on both hips and was playing for the first time since January. "I did the best as I could," he said. "Hopefully in a little bit of time I can get back to 100 per cent." Williams, who owns a small share of the NFLs Miami Dolphins, wore a dress in the teams orange and turquoise colours -- which may explain her slow start. Or maybe it was because she hadnt played since Feb. 21. Williams had to erase a 5-3 deficit in the first set, and then fell behind 6-3 in the tiebreaker. Shvedova pushed a forehand into the net, then the Kazakh hit a nervous double-fault that allowed Williams to exhale. She won the next two points with aces, then closed out the set with a backhand winner, a fist pump and a scream of "Yes!" Her game steadied in the second set, when she had 18 winners and only 10 unforced errors -- bad news perhaps for opponents to come in the tournament Williams considers her hometown event. She lives an hour north in Palm Beach Gardens. "I love playing here," she told the crowd. The 33-year-old Hewitt also staged a comeback. With the victory, he joined Roger Federer (942 wins) and Rafael Nadal (675) in reaching the 600 match milestone. "Not many people get the opportunity to get close to that, so it means I have been around for an awfully long time," Hewitt said. "Im getting old. A few years ago when I had the last couple of surgeries, I probably would have doubted Id get to this stage. Im grateful Im out there and able to compete with the best guys." In other womens play, No. 5-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany won her opening match, beating Peng Shuai of China 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5). Kerber, a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist, matched her best showing at Key Biscayne by reaching the third round. Ana Ivanovic beat American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-1, and No. 8 Petra Kvitova defeated Argentinas Paula Ormaechea 6-3, 6-4. Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2006 champion, lost to Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic 7-6 (5), 7-5. Fridays stadium court schedule features the winners of 34 Grand Slam titles in five matches. The parade of champions will include Federer, Novak Djokovic, Venus Williams, Andy Murray and Li Na playing their opening matches. Andres Iniesta Spain Jersey .J. -- The New Jersey Devils are so bad in shootouts, coach Pete DeBoer doesnt mind seeing his team take chances in the five-minute overtime. Isco Spain Jersey . The Senators return from a lengthy layoff caused by Wednesdays attack on Parliament Hill to host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. http://www.soccerspainauthority.com/dan ... -jersey/.A. Dickey, even though he was coming off a Cy Young Award in 2012. Many felt the Jays would regret giving up righthanded pitcher prospect Noah Syndergaard and catcher Travis DArnaud over the long haul. Pepe Reina Spain Jersey . - A late-game interception by defensive back Malcolm Butler saved the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots. Sergio Ramos Spain Jersey . Nikolaos Kounenakis has been hired as an assistant coach, the team announced on Monday.DENVER -- As the winning streak climbs, so does the stress level for San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. At least, that was Tim Duncans assessment after the Spurs ran their streak to 16 straight by beating the Denver Nuggets 133-102 on Friday night. This is their longest regular-season win streak since reeling off 17 in a row from Feb. 29 to March 31, 1996. And Popovich seems to be growing more antsy with every victory. "Oh, very. Very, very, very. Very much," Duncan said. "Hes a teacher and wants to teach. He wants the good and the bad. Even through this streak, hes been on us a tremendous amount, making sure we dont rest on just the wins, but were learning from game to game." Popovich found a teaching moment in the third quarter with the game well in hand. His team relaxed on one possession and allowed an easy transition basket by Randy Foye. Popovich quickly called timeout and voiced his displeasure to his team. "Even as much as were up, he was still on us the entire game," Duncan said. Hard to find too much fault with the Spurs effort in this one. Marco Belinelli scored 27 points, Duncan had 20 and the Spurs scored a season high in points. San Antonio also maintained a three-game lead for the top seed in the Western Conference. Its a quick turnaround for the Spurs, who host New Orleans on Saturday. "This (winning streak) is great challenge," Duncan said. "Its a big challenge. People can get lackadaisical and look past certain games. Weve done a good job of not doing that." Foye scored 20 for a banged-up Nuggets squad that lost for the fourth time in five games. Wilson Chandler was out with a strained groin, while Timofey Mozgov and Kenneth Faried were hampered by an illness. Faried still finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. "Theyre devastated, injury-wise," Popovich said. "Its not a fair deal." Still, a 31-point loss was hard for Nuggets coach Brian Shaw to absorb, even if he is missing quite a few starters to season-ending injuries. "That was an embarrassing loss," Shaw said. "Just from every standpoint of the game -- defensively, body langguage, energy, just embarrassing, and it starts with me, just doing whatever I need to do to get our guys prepared and to come out and give the kind of energy and effort we need, especially playing the top team in the league.dddddddddddd" Belinelli stepped into the starting lineup with Danny Green hobbled by an inflamed right foot and quickly found his rhythm. Belinelli scored 14 in the first quarter and finished 10 of 15 from the field. "We really love to move the ball together, thats why were winning together right now," Belinelli said. Popovich insisted before the game that hes not going to overextend his players to secure the No. 1 seed in the West. His goal is to keep them "as healthy and energetic as possible at this time of year." The veteran coach didnt have to worry about taxing his team too much in this one, building a 25-point lead midway through the third quarter and resting most of his starters for a majority of the fourth. All this winning so close to the playoffs is making Popovich a little anxious because, "maybe this comes too easy," he said. "Losing is not a bad thing at this point of the year." Trailing 20-14 in the first, the Spurs closed out the quarter on a 17-3 run. The Nuggets couldnt rally back into the game, like they did Wednesday in San Antonio when they trailed the Spurs by 24 only to make it close down the stretch, before falling 108-103. "We just let them do basically what they wanted to do," Foye said. "We had more fight on their court last game than we did on our court tonight. Thats unacceptable. We didnt bring it tonight and against a team like that if you dont bring it, its going to be a long night for you." NOTES: San Antonio kept Matt Bonner (strained calf) at home because, "he wasnt going to play anyway," Popovich said. ... The Spurs finished with 37 assists, including seven by C Tiago Splitter. ... Nuggets F Jan Vesely (bruised rib cage) was back on the court after missing two games. He finished with five points. ... Reserve G Evan Fournier had 15 points for the Nuggets. ... Denver trailed by as many as 35 points. Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Womens Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Discount Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Outlet Cheap NFL Black Jerseys ' ' '