MELBOURNE, Australia - It wasnt until Serena Williams forced herself to relax, and not focus too intently on a milestone Grand Slam title, that she rediscovered the art of winning the biggest events in tennis.Now shes on the verge of a 19th major championship after beating 19-year-old Madison Keys 7-6 (5), 6-2 on Thursday and setting up an Australian Open final against long-time rival Maria Sharapova.Williams has won all five Australian Open finals she has contested and won her last 15 matches against No. 2-ranked Sharapova, a five-time major winner who will be playing her fourth final at Melbourne Park.While the 33-year-old Williams is peerless among active players, there was a period last year when she wanted so desperately to win her 18th major that it proved too distracting. After winning the U.S. Open in 2013, she lost in the fourth round at the Australian Open, the second round at the French and the third round at Wimbledon.I was so hyped on getting to 18 and I lost every Grand Slam early. I didnt make it to any quarterfinals, Williams said. Then after Wimbledon I decided to just — not necessarily not care — but just relax. It all kind of came back for me after that ... and I think its been working.That approach helped her win the U.S. Open and, if it works again on Saturday against 2008 champion Sharapova, it will help Williams move above Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova on the list of major winners. She would be behind only Steffi Graf, with 22 titles, among champions in the Open era.The statistics point to another win for Williams, but shes not getting ahead of herself.Again. I have to win. Everyones expecting me to win. But well see, Williams said. Shes playing unbelievable. She was almost out of the tournament and has been playing better every single match. Its impressive.Williams, who has struggled with a cold for a week, said shed benefit from a tough workout in the all-American semifinal against Keys, who pounded her with heavy groundstrokes and a big serve for the first set.Keys, playing in her first Grand Slam semifinal, saved seven match points on serve in a penultimate game that lasted more than 11 minutes. Williams closed with an ace in the next game to reach her 23rd major final.She pushed me really hard the first set ... and I had to really dig deep mentally to get through that, Williams said. It was a little frustrating. I had like nine or 10 match points and couldnt close it out. That doesnt happen so much. She played like she didnt have anything to lose.Sharapova, who beat No. 10-seeded Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-2 in an all-Russian semifinal, has won only two of her 18 career meetings with Williams — both in 2004. She started 2015 with a title at the Brisbane International and, ever since saving two match points in her second-round match against Russian qualifier Alexandra Panova, has been growing in confidence.I think my confidence should be pretty high going into a final of a Grand Slam no matter who Im facing and whether Ive had a terrible record, to say the least, against someone, Sharapova said. It doesnt matter. I got there for a reason. I belong in that spot. I will do everything I can to get the title.In mens play, Andy Murray reached the Australian Open final for the fourth time, and is desperate to end a title drought Down Under.The sixth-seeded Murray beat No. 7 Tomas Berdych 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 in a semifinal laced with heavy hitting, flashes of anger and profanities.Murray lost finals here to Roger Federer in 2010 and Novak Djokovic in 11 and 13. Since then, he has won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon to end long title droughts for British men. Hell get another chance to claim the Australian title on Sunday, against the winner of Fridays semifinal between Djokovic and defending champion Stan Wawrinka.Tension was high before the match because Murrays former coach, Dani Vallverdu, is now working for Berdych.You wanted there to be tension, Murray said. A lot was made of Dani, my ex-coach, working with him. I felt it was a little unfair and unnecessary. This is sport, theres more to life than sport. It was a little unfair and created extra tension.An aggravated Murray bristled when Berdych spoke a few words to him after the first-set tiebreaker, and yelled profanities throughout the match. TV cameras appeared to show his fiancee, Kim Sears, uttering expletives in support.Murray said the emotional reactions were understandable given the hype leading into the match. wholesale jerseys china.C. -- Mike Krzyzewski may have poured too much emotion into No. wholesale nfl jerseys china. Hamilton posted the best lap of one minute 15.610 seconds on the 4.361-kilomtre Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve but his Mercedes AMG teammate Nico Rosberg was caught for second place when Massa came in at 1:16. http://www.wholesalejerseysdeals.us.com/. He put that memory to rest in his return. Lee had 28 points and 10 rebounds for his ninth straight double-double, leading the Golden State Warriors past the Denver Nuggets 89-81 on Monday night. wholesale jerseys. Rangers manager Ron Washington decided to give his closer one more day of rest after a long week, and Matt Harrison had already done most of the heavy lifting to put Texas in position for another victory.BRADENTON, Florida - J.A. Happ was pummeled by the Pirates on Tuesday, leaving general manager Alex Anthopoulos with an unappealing conundrum: its become easier for him to sell to the fan base the idea of having $12.7-million (Ricky Romeros and Happs combined 2014 salaries) of dead or differently-allocated money than it is to sell the fan base on including the left-hander in the opening day starting rotation. Happ faced 20 batters in three-plus innings. Twelve of them got hits, including Pittsburgh starter Wandy Rodriguez, who hit a wind-aided, opposite field, two-run home run to cap a four-run second inning. Rodriguez had never homered in 437 career major league at-bats. Happ allowed seven earned runs, bloating his springtime ERA over four starts to 20.57. The Blue Jays lost, wait for it, 22-5. "It wasnt a good day for anybody, really," said manager John Gibbons. "We got pounded pretty good. They werent missing em. We got hit around pretty good." Meanwhile, back in Dunedin, Dustin McGowan, the sudden favourite for the final available rotation job, threw four innings of scoreless baseball in a Triple-A game. His fastball was clocked in the mid-90s; McGowan hit the 62-pitch mark. "I thought he looked great," Anthopoulos told a pool reporter in Dunedin. "Its just trying to get him stretched out here. Every step is a step in the right direction, but well see how he feels tonight, tomorrow, all that kind of stuff. He got up to 62 today off of 48 the (outing) before. Well take it outing by outing at this point." The logical next step, provided McGowans wonky shoulder feels good on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, is to have the right-hander throw another minor league game in Florida on Sunday. "The big thing is that we dont get ahead of ourselves because we re-evaluate it almost daily to see how he feels," said Anthopoulos. "I always remind him as well, I keep reminding him that at any time any concerns, any tweaks, anything at all, he needs to tell us, and he said, Absolutely. Hes obviously a big part of wanting to do this as well. As I told him when were even exploring this, he needs to want to do this because we would never take chances with his career or with his health. Hes the one who knows how he feels. Hes been through this enough times. He has to communicate with us." Happ has had a puzzling spring. He arrived in Dunedin under the impression he had a spot in the starting rotation locked up. After poor starts on February 26 and March 3, he missed game action due to a bad back. His two appearances since his return, on March 19 and on Tuesday, have gone no better. "Yeah, thats not an issue," said Gibbons, when asked if Happs back was still a concern. Happ has an option remaining, meaning he could be sent to the minors without first passing through waivers. However, the fly in the ointment is significant: as a major league veteran with more than five years of service time, Happ has the right to refuse the assignment, at which point the Jays could keep him or release him while paying him full freight. Would Happ be willing to move to the bullpen? "Im not thinking about that," he said. "Ill answer that question if someone elsee, one of the bosses, decides they need to ask that.dddddddddddd Well deal with that then. But thats not something thats on my mind." The Blue Jays still have not officially named Drew Hutchison to their starting rotation although its inconceivable he doesnt make the team. Hutchison has been the clubs best pitcher this spring and Anthopoulos is on the record as saying hes taking the best 25 players north. Assuming Hutchison joins R.A. Dickey, Brandon Morrow and Mark Buehrle in the rotation, Anthopoulos, Gibbons and pitching coach Pete Walker have to decide between McGowan, Happ and Todd Redmond for the final spot. The idea of piggybacking McGowan, that is starting him on a strict pitch count and backfilling with Redmond, Esmil Rogers, maybe even Happ, behind him has been bandied about. It likely will be revisited during internal meetings ahead of Sundays deadline to announce the opening day roster. "When we announce the team, everybody will know who it is," said Gibbons. REYES GOING TO MONTREAL? The Blue Jays are encouraged by the MRI results on Jose Reyes left hamstring, which revealed a minor strain. "Hopefully hes in there the next couple of days, maybe at DH," said manager John Gibbons. "Let him run half-speed, three-quarter-speed. It actually made us feel pretty good after we heard the results." When asked on Monday, before he had his MRI, whether he would play through the strain if the regular season already was underway, Reyes didnt answer. It behooves the Jays to be careful, though, especially considering the club plays 91 games (81 at home, 10 in Tampa Bay) of its 162 on artificial turf. "With baseball, too, there can be a lot of dead time too before you actually get a ball," said Gibbons. "That quick movement will sometimes get you. We feel good about it and you hope it doesnt turn into anything down the road either." Still, Gibbons says the plan is to bring Reyes to Montreal, where two games will be played on turf, if hes healthy enough to go. "Im sure everybody wants to see him play up there," said Gibbons. THE SECOND CATCHER R.A. Dickey is scheduled to start the Blue Jays final Grapefruit League home game on Wednesday. By game time, we should have a better idea of who will back up Dioner Navarro. "I would say the guy who catches him (Wednesday) will be the backup catcher," said Gibbons. "Ill leave it at that." Erik Kratz and Josh Thole are vying for the job. Gibbons has repeatedly said that effectively catching Dickey is the jobs number one priority. Thole, to the extent someone can be, is a master at it. Hes also got the most experience. Dickeys pitched 565 innings to Thole over their time together with the Mets and Blue Jays. Kratz, a 2002 Blue Jays draft pick, returned to the organization in an offseason trade with the Phillies. Hes a threat to hit a home run, having gone deep 18 times in 375 at-bats over the last two seasons. Thole posted a .175/.256/.242 line in limited action last season. If he makes the team it appears the club will have trouble generating offence from the eighth and ninth (Ryan Goins) spots in the lineup on the days he plays. cheap nfl jerseys? cheap jerseys?cheap jerseys?cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '