Wimbledon gets its sisters final after Serena Williams edges Elena Dementieva and Venus Williams destroys Dinara Safina.
An All Williams Final Again WIMBLEDON, England (AP) The purple "W" logo at Wimbledon might as well stand for the siblings who have made the women's championship their own playground. Yes, the Williams sisters are back in the Wimbledon final.
Venus and Serena Williams won in contrasting fashion Thursday to set up their fourth all-sister Wimbledon final and eighth meeting in a Grand Slam title match.
Two-time champion Serena saved a match point and overcame Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 in 2 hours, 49 minutes - the longest women's semifinal at Wimbledon in at least 40 years. Five-time winner Venus, meanwhile, needed only 51 minutes to demolish Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 and reach her eighth Wimbledon final.
"Oh, my God, this is my eighth final, and it's a dream come to true to be here ... Full Story...
Pistons Make Quick Strikes By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports 7/2/2009 The Detroit Pistons have reached agreement with free-agent guard Ben Gordon and forward Charlie Villanueva, a source with knowledge of the talks told Yahoo! Sports Wednesday evening.
Gordon will receive a five-year contract worth around $55 million while Villanueva’s five-year deal is expected to be worth about $35 million.
Gordon and Villanueva, who played together for a year at UConn, traveled to Detroit on Wednesday morning to meet with Detroit president Joe Dumars and other Pistons front-office officials.
They took a tour of the practice facility in Auburn Hills, had lunch with management and both ultimately came to terms on an agreement.
Gordon agreed first and Villanueva followed soon after. The loss of Gordon ...
L.A. Wins, Manny To Return By The Associated Press 7/2/2009 LOS ANGELES (AP) Manny Ramirez's suspension didn't slow down the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Dodgers played their 50th and final game without Ramirez, beating the Colorado Rockies 1-0 Wednesday on pinch-hitter Rafael Furcal's RBI single in the eighth inning. During Ramirez's absence, the Dodgers went 29-21.
Ramirez was suspended for violating baseball's drug policy on May 7. He is eligible to return for Friday night's game at San Diego.
"It's not until you lose somebody like Manny that you realize that there's no safety net out there," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "I continue to talk about how fortunate we've been with the number of close games we've won."
The Dodgers' sputtering offense has scored eight runs over the last five games. ...
Today's Free Pick from #1 Sports: 7/2/2009 Baltimore @ Los Angeles:
The Orioles (35-42) have struggled on the road this season at 11-23 and look to steal win tonight with what they expected to be their #1 arm this season, RHP Jeremy Guthrie (6-7, 5.11 ERA). Guthrie hasn't delivered on expectations but has been decent his last 4 starts with 20 hits and 10 earned allowed over 24 1/3. The Baltimore bats have held their own with 4.68 runs per game (.274 BA, .526 SLG) but have a couple issues right now. DH Luke Scott (.298, 14 HR, 39 RBI) has been slumping lately with 1 extra base hits over his last 11 games while CF Adam Jones (.305, 12 HR, 44 RBI) missed Wednesday after taking a header into the wall the night before. He's listed as questionable but expected to go tonight.
The Angels (42-33) have been smoking lately at 13-4 the last 3 weeks and send out a fine arm tonight in RHP John Lackey (2-3, 5.06 ERA). This entire starting staff has been mired in injuries this season but it looks like Lackey's rega ining his form (93-66, 3.86 ERA career), coming off a fine 7 inning trip with 5 hits, 0 earned, and 9 strikeouts. The LA sticks have been superb with 5.08 run per game this year and haven't misses a beat with Vladdy sidelined. CF Torii Hunter (.306, 17 HR, 57), LF Juan Rivera (.302, 13 HR, 43 RBI), and RF Bobby Abreu (.298, 4 HR, 44 RBI) still make this one of the most dangerous outfields.
FREE SELECTION: A terrible road crew facing some serious home bats with Lackey on the hill makes us look to Mike Scioscia's boys tonight at Angels Stadium. Take Los Angeles -155 and click the link below to check out Thursday's 250,000* Day/Night Dominator Parlay! Good Luck!