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o Pheonix Copley in the third. Copley stopped all eight shots he faced.Jason Spezza
o Pheonix Copley in the third. Copley stopped all eight shots he faced.Jason Spezza
in Pony-Like Screenshots Mon Dec 23, 2019 2:52 pmby chenwen121314 • 609 Posts
STANFORD, Calif. Edmonton Oilers Store . -- Dominika Cibulkova hopes her latest WTA Tour final goes better than her last. Agnieszka Radwanska would love to make her relive that nightmare. Both will get the chance Sunday. Cibulkova coasted past Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-0 in the Bank of the West Classic semifinals Saturday. A few hours later, the top-seeded Radwanska overcame a shaky start to beat American Jamie Hampton 6-3, 6-2 with relative ease. The third-seeded Cibulkova has won twice on tour and last advanced to a final in January in Sydney, where she lost 6-0, 6-0 to Radwanska. It was the first whitewash in a final since November 2006 and only one in Cibulkovas career. "Tennis is a lot about mentally," Cibulkova said. "If you will see that match, you will not believe it can be like that because I was putting pressure all the time. All the first six or seven games of that match I had game point or break point, and I just couldnt make it. It was like something really bad was happening. I was down 6-0, 3-0 and I was only thinking about one thing -- just to make one game, and it didnt happen. It was really bad." Now Cibulkova will have a chance for a double-dose of redemption. Radwanska, ranked No. 4 in the world, has 12 singles titles -- including 10 on hard court. She won back-to-back tournaments at Auckland and Sydney to start the year and hadnt advanced to a final since she crushed Cibulkova down under. Radwanska regrouped against Hampton after dropping her serve twice in the first set, breaking back in the following game both times. The Wimbledon semifinalist earned the decisive break at 5-3 by forcing Hampton to sail a backhand long. The smooth-swinging Polish player put away the match with an overhead winner for a service break at 2-1 in the second set, then pushed Hampton -- who beat her earlier this year at Eastbourne -- around the court to grab the next three games and set up a finals rematch she believes will offer more drama than earlier this year. "Didnt really expect that, especially in the final," Radwanska said. "She was playing great matches in Sydney and then suddenly I think she was a little bit too nervous in the final. And then game by game she was getting (frustrated) too much. But I dont think shes the kind of player that can do that again." Cibulkovas game has seemed to come a long way the last seven months. In the semifinals, Cibulkova controlled the pace and played patient and near-perfect tennis against an opponent who folded fast. The third-seeded Cibulkova saved all six break points in the first set and often stayed back on the baseline waiting for Cirstea to make mistakes. The approach helped Cibulkova go ahead 5-3 in the first set and sweep the second set to cruise into the final on the sun-splashed Stanford campus. Cibulkova has played the event the past six years and had never advanced beyond the semifinals, losing to Cirstea in the quarterfinals a year ago. This time, her penetrating strokes had Cirstea constantly on the move. The hard-hitting Cibulkova forced her to net a forehand and then a backhand wide for a break at 4-3 before holding off five breaks in her next service game to take command. With one loss avenged, Cibulkova now has a shot for another in consecutive days. Cibulkova, No. 25 in the world rankings, won in Carlsbad last year and in Moscow in 2011 for her only WTA titles. But the loss in Sydney had her questioning herself for weeks. "It really affected my game for a few tournaments after," she said. "It was a pretty bad experience. When I came to the Australian Open, the first match I was just thinking, OK, you have to make a game now because its really important. It wasnt easy. It kept coming back to me a few tournaments, but I think its over." While some players mightve shied away from the experience, Cibulkova faced it firsthand. She watched the replay of the match -- "just the first set," she said -- and saw her confidence evaporate with every stroke. Asked why she would put herself through watching such a devastating defeat, she replied, "I have to learn from it." Fake Oilers Jerseys . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. Stitched Oilers Jerseys .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. https://www.cheapoilers.com/ . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Matt Hunwick and Peter Holland each scored twice to help the Toronto Maple Leafs rout the Buffalo Sabres 8-1 on Friday night in exhibition play.William Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Rich Clune and Jake Gardner also scored for Toronto, coming off a 1-0 shootout loss to the Sabres on Thursday night in St. Catherines, Ontario. Frank Corrado had three assists.Jhonas Enroth and Antoine Bibeau each played half the game in goal for Toronto. Enroth started and made eight saves on nine shots, and Bibeau stopped 14 shots.Derek Grant scored for Buffalo. Jason Kasdorf started for the Sabres and allowed four goals on 13 shots. He was replaced by John Muse at the start of the second, Muse surrendered four goals on 27 shots.FLEURY BLANKS BLACKHAWKSIn Pittsburgh, Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves to lead the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins to a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.Scott Wilson scored 25 seconds into the second period. Larss Johansson and Mac Carruth split time in net for Chicago. Johansson made 18 saves on 19 shots, and Carruth stopped all nine shots he faced.PALAT LEAD LIGHTNING PAST HURRICANESIn Raleigh, North Carolina, Ondrej Palat scored at 1:38 seconds of overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.Palau also had the primary assist on Tyler Johnsons goal first-period goal.Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves, allowing only yielding Jeff Skinners powerr-play goal with 1:05 left in regulation. Edmonton Oilers Gear. ddie Lack started for Carolina, and made 11 saves on 12 shots in two periods. Michael Leighton made four saves in the third and overtime.KHUDOBIN, BRUINS STOP RED WINGSIn Detroit, Ryan Spooner scored 34 seconds into overtime, and Anton Khudobin made 34 saves in the Boston Bruins 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.Bostons Danton Heinen tied it with 7:29 left in regulation.Detroits Riley Sheahan opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the second.Jimmy Howard made 26 saves for Boston.BLUES TOP STARSIn St. Louis, Petteri Lindbohm had a goal and an assist in the St. Louis Blues 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.Colton Parayko, Jordan Schmaltz and Dmitrij Jaskin also scored for the Blues.Jake Allen made 15 saves in the opening 40 minutes before giving way to Pheonix Copley in the third. Copley stopped all eight shots he faced.Jason Spezza scored Dallas lone goal on a power play 8:49 into the game. Kari Lehtonen made 18 saves.JETS OVERPOWER OILERSAt Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists and Winnipeg had four power-play goals in a 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.Adam Lowry, Joel Armia, Toby Enstrom, Kyle Connor also scored. Michael Hutchinson made 33 saves, allowing only Oscar Klefboms second-period goal. ' ' '
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