NEW YORK -- Venus Williams stood on the floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday afternoon with a guttural roar rising all around her. The racket dangled loosely in her right hand alongside her thigh, a sheen of perspiration on her upturned face. She savored the approval of the crowd and took a moment to drink it all in, having just arrived at match point late in the third set of her fourth-round dispute with US Open No. 10 seed Karolina Pliskova.Across the net, Pliskova felt very lonely.But at least I have my serve, she remembered thinking. So at least something was on my side. I was just thinking, I have to go. I have to put everything into this point. And yeah, I made it.Dismissing the match point enabled Pliskova to hold serve for 5-all in the final set, and from there, she went on to win the 2-hour, 24-minute barnburner 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3).The match will be remembered by many spectators as a heartbreaker and the long moment when a courageous, boundary-shattering, exemplary woman and uber-athlete of 36 was denied a thoroughly deserved win. It will seem to some that justice, even if only the poetic variety, was not served.But looking at it that way is the real injustice, and Williams would be the first to tell you that. She had a wonderful time. She acquitted herself beautifully in her own eyes. The love showered upon her by the crowd was inspirational. She said, It was a high-, high-quality match. Its such an amazing feeling. I enjoyed every single moment of that.Pliskova arrived in New York with a hot hand, having logged back-to-back wins over No. 3 Garbine Muguruza and No. 2 Angelique Kerber in winning Cincinnati. But she was carrying some heavy baggage too, in the form of a growing reputation as a Grand Slam underachiever. Ranked No. 11 (and as high as No. 7 in the past), Pliskova was the only member of the top 20 who had not been as far as the fourth round at a major. Her record at Grand Slams before the Williams match: 16-17.The first two women Pliskova had beaten had an average ranking of No. 217. Williams had two US Open titles and a 74-14 record at Flushing Meadows. Speculating on what she might do to Pliskova in the cauldron of Ashe was an ugly enterprise.But one counterintuitive factor escaped everyones attention: In many of the ways that count, the 36-year-old Williams and the 24-year-old from the Czech Republic are mirror images. It was suggested in their previous meeting. They played in Zhuhai, where Williams won in just more than two grueling hours 7-5, 7-6 (6).Like Williams, Pliskova is a lean 6-foot-1. The engine driving her game is a big serve. (They cracked eight aces apiece in Mondays match.) Pliskova leads the WTA Tour in aces. Williams and Pliskova both whale on the ball off the ground, looking to force the action, open the court and create an opportunity to move forward. Each of them is a glutton for pace, giving and taking it with gusto. Williams might be the greater athlete, but age is a great leveler.The similarity between the women also might explain why the match was played in such an air of poise and dignity. Both women wore their hair pulled back and out of the way. They wore understated tennis dresses. Neither of them indulged in fist-pumping or emotional outbursts, even in the most pumped-up or emotional moments.The factors holding Pliskova back have been largely mental; the one quality she doesnt share with Williams is that basic champions cocktail of will, talent and confidence. But she might be getting there. The win Monday certainly shatters memories of numerous Grand Slam embarrassments from the past.Yeah, I hope they will stop [talking about my Grand Slam failures], Pliskova said. Even if they will discuss in the future, I dont care.Its a reasonable stance, given how this match played out. Pliskova started slowly. She spotted Williams the first set after falling behind 3-0. It looked like a blowout might be in the works when Williams went ahead 3-1 in the second set, but Pliskova broke right back, and from that point, it was game on. Her own serve improved, and Williams began making errors off the ground.Still, Williams reached match point at 4-5, 30-40 in the third set. While the crowd roared, Pliskova held counsel with her serve and then decided to go to the forehand. She tagged a good one. Williams belted it back. Pliskova hammered out a sharp reply and moved in to finish the point with a forehand volley.The threat was neutralized, and Williams was never again in position to win. But she had no regrets about how the match point played out.She had a great serve. She hit another great shot, and I still played a great defensive shot, Williams said. I did the best I could on that. Whenever you have a match point on someone elses serve, its a little bit of an asterisk. I really have no regrets on that.Indeed, Williams had no reason to regret anything -- not on this day, not in this tournament and perhaps not in her career. That career, incidentally, is still a work in progress. Williams said so, and Pliskova endorsed her desire to continue.I still have the feeling she can play for so many years because shes moving so well, Pliskova said. I remember her. I was [a] little girl watching her, obviously Serena, on TV. They are still playing. They are still playing the best tennis ever. Its amazing. Jamaal Tinsley Jersey . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. C. J. Miles Jersey . The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling "puts an end to my dreams of being a top player," the 27-year-old Troicki said in a statement. "I worked my entire life for it, and it has been taken away from me in one afternoon by a doctor I didnt know," said Troicki, whose ranking peaked at No. https://www.cheappacers.com/1503k-t-j-warren-jersey-pacers.html . The Australian is competing in his final season in Formula One and still looking for his first win this year. He will look to end Vettels run of six straight race wins on Sunday. Webber, who is fifth in the championship, earned his second pole from the past three races and 13th of his career. Danny Granger Jersey . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. Detlef Schrempf Jersey . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race.ST. LOUIS -- After rookie Martin Perez silenced the St. Louis Cardinals, his manager was non-stop with praise. "Ive always seen the stuff, but tonight was the first time I think he showed hes a big-league pitcher," Ron Washington said after the Texas Rangers 4-2 victory Saturday night. "It can be a huge step, he just beat a pretty good team. "He should be proud. I know we are." Nelson Cruz got the decisive hit for the second straight game with a two-run homer in the third inning for the Rangers, who have won four of five after losing six in a row. Fellow rookie Shelby Miller (8-5) allowed two homers for the second time in three starts and didnt make it out of the sixth against the team the Cardinals beat in the 2011 World Series, Texas was making its first regular-season visit to Busch Stadium. "Im not saying that if I make a better pitch I get them out, but both pitches were right down the middle, perfect pitches to hit," Miller said. "The first one was supposed to be in and the other one was supposed to be away, and both kind of ended up right down the middle of the plate." A.J. Pierzynski also hit a two-run homer for Texas, which goes for a three-game sweep on Sunday night with Nick Tepesch (3-6, 4.84) facing Adam Wainwright (10-4, 2.37). The first two games have been sellouts and the finale was supposed to be a matchup of aces, but the Rangers are saving Yu Darvish for the Yankees Tuesday in New York. They didnt want Perez to come up in New York, either. Perez (1-1) was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock where he was 5-1 with a 1.75 ERA. The lefty allowed a run in each of the first two innings but gave up just two hits the next five innings and retired the last 10. Though perhaps the Rangers top prospect, Perez entered 1-5 with a 5.40 ERA with seven starts. "I just had to do the same job Im doing at Triple-A," Perez said. "The first two innings I missed a couple pitches but after that I just said OK, this is my game." Joe Nathan wrapped up a game that had all of the scoring in the first three innings with a perfect ninth for his 24th save in 25 chances. The start of the game was delayed by rain 66 minutes. It was the second such delay this week. Earlier Saturday, Washington said he felt good about Cruzs tiebreaking two-run ssingle in the ninth on Friday because the Rangers need wins, and not because Cruz needed redemption.dddddddddddd The Rangers were an out away from taking the 11 Series when Cruz misplayed David Freeses game-tying triple in Game 6. Cruz snapped a 2-2 third-inning tie with a two-run homer, his 19th of the season to the opposite field in right. He also singled and has four hits and five RBIs the first two games of the series. Miller departed after bouncing a throw to first on a sacrifice bunt by Perez that loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth. Fellow rookie Seth Maness got Ian Kinsler on a groundout to end the sixth. Miller is 3-2 this month, the other loss coming when he gave up two homers and four runs on the road against the Mets. Manager Mike Matheny couldnt find fault with pitches that the right-hander left up. "He lives there, thats where his success is, so thats one of those two-edged swords," Matheny said. "Most of the guys in the league have a tough time catching up to him. You dont see many guys that see him the first time able to square balls up the first pitch they see on the top of the zone." The Cardinals have opened the scoring both games and took the lead on Allen Craigs RBI single in the first with Carlos Beltran just beating the relay to the plate from centre fielder Leonys Martin. The Rangers answered when Adrian Beltre doubled to open the second and Pierzynski lined the next pitch into the right field seats for his seventh homer. The Cardinals tied it in the bottom half when Freese tripled off the top of the wall in right-centre and scored on Shane Robinsons sacrifice fly. NOTES: St. Louis Rams general manager Les Snead threw the ceremonial first pitch. ... Tepesch is 0-2 with a 9.77 ERA in his last three starts, and Washington said he needs to develop trust in all of his pitches. ... Wainwright has worked at least seven innings six straight starts, going 5-1. ... Cardinals RHP Michael Blazek made his major league debut and struck out two in a perfect ninth. ... Yadier Molina was 0 for 4 to end a seven-game hitting streak, dropping his league-leading average to .366. He batted .423 (11 for 26) during the streak. ... Craig has 21 RBIs this month, his best month ever. ... Cruz has 11 RBIs the last six games with a .400 average (10 for 25). ' ' '