Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Clay Italia .com) - Top seed and five-time titlist Serena Williams was an easy winner Friday in third-round play at the Australian Open, while last years runner-up Li Na was put to the test in continued brutally hot conditions at Melbourne Park. The world No. 1 Williams wasted little time disposing of No. 31 seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 6-3, 6-3, to surpass Aussie legend Margaret Courts record for match wins at the tournament in the Open Era with 61. The reigning U.S. and French Open champion won 74 percent of her first-service points and served 10 aces to Hantuchovas two in the 80-minute rout at Rod Laver Arena. "It was a tough match ... its definitely hot, but you have to be ready to play," said the 17-time major singles titlist Williams. "And then you have to prepare yourself mentally, too." The 32-year-old Williams has won 24 straight matches overall dating back to last season, including a season-opening title in Brisbane two weeks ago. "I feel like, in life 32 is young. In sports its old," Williams said. "But for whatever reason, I feel like I just never was really able to reach my full potential, and I feel like recently I just have been able to do a little better. I just keep trying to improve on everything." Up next for Williams will be former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic. Meanwhile, the fourth-seeded Li, who lost to two-time reigning champion Victoria Azarenka in last years Aussie finale, was nearly stunned by 26th- seeded Czech Lucie Safarova, but rallied to pull out a 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 victory in two hours, 37 minutes. The former French Open champion and two-time Aussie Open runner-up Li will face 22nd-seeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round. The temperature in Melbourne reached 111 degrees at one point on Day 5, but the Aussie fans were rewarded for battling through the intense heat when Aussie crowd favorite Casey Dellacqua downed Chinas Zheng Jie 6-2, 6-4. Also moving on Friday was No. 9 seed Angelique Kerber, as last weeks Sydney runner-up doused upstart American Alison Riske 6-3, 6-4, and the 14th-seeded former French Open winner and 2008 Aussie Open runner-up Ivanovic, who dismissed 17th-seeded Aussie and former U.S. Open champ Sam Stosur 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 6-2. Stosur has always struggled at her home Grand Slam, going just 17-12 and failing to ever get past the fourth round. The aforementioned Makarova downed Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-4 and 30th-seeded rising Canadian Eugenie Bouchard cruised past American Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-2. Bouchard will encounter Dellacqua on Sunday. Also on a steamy Day 5, 28th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over German Mona Barthel. Pennettas fourth-round opponent will be the left-handed Kerber. The third round is scheduled to conclude on Saturday, including matches for the second-seeded former world No. 1 and reigning two-time Aussie champion Azarenka and third-seeded former top-ranked star and 2008 Melbourne titlist Maria Sharapova. Azarenka will take on Austrian Yvonne Meusburger, while Sharapova will battle 25th-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet. Sharapova is also a two-time Aussie runner-up, including two years ago against her rival Azarenka. Also on Saturday, fifth-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska will face 29th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, eighth-seeded former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic will be opposed by Japans Kurumi Nara, and 10th-seeded former top-ranked star Caroline Wozniacki will battle hot Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, who captured her first-ever WTA title in Hobart last week. The Day 6 schedule will also feature 11th-seeded Romanian Simona Halep and 13th-seeded American Sloane Stephens. Yeezy Boost 700 Sconti . Power had a two-lap average of 218.896 mph in qualifying Friday at the high-banked, high-speed 1 1/2-mile track for his 34th career pole. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Italia . -- Challenged for the first time under Major League Baseballs expanded replay system, umpires got it right.Lexington, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Hall of Fame thoroughbred Cigar has died at the age of 24. A former two-time Horse of the Year, Cigar passed away after surgery at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital. The stallion had been living at the Kentucky Horse Park. Cigar had been experiencing arthritis-related health issues over the past six months and was in outstanding physical and mental condition other than the osteoarthritis he was suffering from in several of his cervical vertebrae, said Kathy Hopkins, director of equine operations for the Kentucky Horse Park. Medical therapies had failed to relieve the pressure that the arthritis was causing on his spine, which had resulted in instability in his hind legs. Cigar was owned by Allen Paulson and trained by Bill Mott with Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey serving as his primary rider. The horse was named Horse of the Year in 1995 and 1996, as well as champion older male thoroughbred for those years, and was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2002. The great champion Cigar thrilled racing fans and surely brought new ones to the sport as he compiled win after win in his incredible streak of victories, said Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear. An example of racing at its best, he continued to serve as an ambassador, bringing joy to countless visitors to the Hall of Champions at the Kentucky Horse Park, where he will be missed. The future champion began racing as a 3-year-old in 1993, but did not win his first stakes race until capturing thhe NYRA Mile at Aqueduct in November 1994. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Antlia Italia. The stakes is now called the Cigar Mile in his honor. Cigar had a 16-race winning streak from October 1994 through July 1996 that included victories in the first running of the Dubai World Cup in 1996, 1995 Breeders Cup Classic, two Donn and Massachusetts Handicaps, Hollywood Gold Cup and Jockey Club Gold Cup. The champion was retired from racing after finishing second in the 1996 Jockey Club Gold Cup and third in the Breeders Cup Classic. He closed his Hall of Fame career with 19 wins, 15 in stakes, from 33 starts with then- record earnings of $9,999,815. Cigar was an incredible horse who left an everlasting mark on the racing world, said Ted Nicholson, interim executive director of the Kentucky Horse Park. We are honored that Cigar was able to spend so many years of his life here at the park where he was visited by so many fans and will always be remembered. Cigar was sent to Coolmore in Versailles, Kentucky as a stallion, but he was found to be infertile and was transferred to the Kentucky Horse Park in 1999. Like the other Hall of Champions horses who died in retirement at the park, Cigar will be buried on the Memorial Walk of Champions near thoroughbreds Alysheba, Bold Forbes, Forego, John Henry and Kona Gold; standardbreds Cam Fella and Rambling Willie; American Saddlebreds CH Imperator, CH Skywatch and CH Gypsy Supreme; and American Quarter Horse Sgt. Pepper Feature. ' ' '
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