Dein erstes Forum » nd those around the

SINGAPORE -- A physically spent Svetlana Kuznetsova claimed a draining 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 win over defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska in nearly 3 hours at the WTA Finals on Monday.Kuznetsova, who saved a match point on Radwanskas serve near the end, eventually prevailed on a third match point to break Radwanskas serve.At some point, I was just ready to let it go, just lay on the court and let them take me out of here, Kuznetsova told the cheering crowd. I was just trying to stay in there and hang in there.Kuznetsova was the final player to earn a berth into the eight-player, year-end championships when she defended her Moscow title Saturday.The Russian arrived in Singapore on Sunday afternoon after a grueling four weeks of chasing a spot in the WTA Finals for the first time since 2009. She played three tournaments in China ahead of taking a wild card into the Moscow tournament.In a bizarre move while trailing 1-2 and down a break in the third set, Kuznetsova took a pair of scissors to the back of her head and cut off a portion of her braid during the changeover.It was bothering me a lot, said the Russian, who asked the umpire to have scissors brought to the court. When I was hitting forehands, every time I would hit a good shot, it would hit my eye.She added: I thought, OK, whats more important now, my hair, which I can let grow, or the match?Kuznetsova broke Radwanskas serve after the impromptu haircut, but after dropping her serve again in the fifth game, she cried into her towel on the changeover.Still, trailing 2-4, Kuznetsova refused to surrender and climbed back into the set.The hair Kuznetsova chopped off remained on her chair for the remainder of the match.The drama continued in the second match, when Karolina Pliskova, who was up by a set and a break, came back from 2-5 down in the third set to defeat Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-5.Muguruza had one match point at 5-2, 40-30, but couldnt close down Pliskova, who won 20 of the final 24 points.Im very happy that I made it, said Pliskova, making her WTA Finals debut this week in singles and doubles. This doesnt happen every day.Kuznetsova and Pliskova stand at 1-0 in White Group action, while Radwanska and Muguruza are 0-1. Cheap Football NCAA Jerseys . McCarthy, a player who played some games in the second tier for Wigan at the start of this season, would go on to shine inside Evertons midfield, outplaying the man he was brought in to replace, on one of the grandest stages in English football. On Saturday, it was fitting that Manchester Uniteds most recent dagger into the chest was delivered by Frenchman Yohan Cabaye, a wonderfully gifted central midfielder who put on an outstanding effort for Newcastle at Old Trafford. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/ NCAA Jerseys Outlet . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. NCAA Jerseys China . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. Once again, the people who run the Olympics just cant say no to Vladimir Putin.Not when he spends more than $50 billion to host a winter Olympics to show off a resurgent Russia. Not when he talks darkly about returning to the days of Olympic boycotts in 1980 and 1984.Certainly not when he suggests that doping officials of one powerful country -- can you guess which one? -- are behind efforts to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics.When Putin talks, Olympic officials listen. And thats the biggest reason why Russian athletes -- at least some of them -- will march in opening ceremonies less than two weeks from now in Brazil.With Russian prestige on the line, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee caved in. Instead of banning Russia from Rio for running a state-sanctioned doping operation, the IOC members decided instead Sunday to allow individual sports federations to decide which Russians can compete.Spineless, yes, but thats to be expected. No reason to let a little doping scandal get in the way of a cozy relationship that serves both sides so well.It was just a little more than two years ago that Putin was the face of a winter Olympics that he saw as far more than just a sporting event. He cheered Russian athletes in arenas and in the mountains, and celebrated with them as they added to the host countrys medal haul.Meanwhile, his agents were working late into the night at the Sochi doping lab, exchanging urine samples taken from the countrys athletes for clean ones in an elaborate scheme to escape detection.It paid off with 33 medals for Russia, 11 of them gold. The country led the medal standings, and Russian pride surged with every big win.That much of it was a scam wouldnt be uncovered until many months later. When it was, it was clear the scope of the cheating effort was so great that it couldnt have been pulled off without cooperation and approval from the highest levels of the Russian government.Yet Russian athletes will still compete in Rio. The official explanation for just why came from IOC President Thomas Bach, who said it would be unfair to ban all Russians when it has not been proven that all of them cheat.At the ennd of the day we have to be able to look in the eye of the individual athletes concerned by this decision, Bach said.ddddddddddddThe unofficial explanation was more telling.The IOC decision was to be expected. You cant behave improperly toward a power like Russia, said Gennady Alyoshin, a Russian Olympic Committee official, in comments to the Tass news agency.Apparently you cant, since the IOC -- for all its bluster about operating drug-free Olympics -- seems more worried about offending Russia than protecting clean athletes. The inexplicable decision to allow Russians to compete in Rio is a slap in the face to both clean athletes and those around the world who work hard to try and ensure the playing field is level.As an added insult, the IOC did Russias bidding by refusing to allow Yulia Stepanovas entry into the games as a neutral competitor, a decision a top U.S. Anti-Doping Agency official called incomprehensible. Stepanova is a runner who left Russia fearing for her safety after blowing the whistle on Russian doping and is considered a traitor by some in her home country.Its enough to make even the true believers wonder. Just what are these Olympic ideals we hear so much about anyway?Surely there are some Russian athletes who dont cheat and would be banned unfairly from the games. Hard to figure out who they are, though, with doping so widespread that Russian labs covered up more than 600 positive drug tests in 29 Olympic sports from 2011 until last August.So now you have swimmers who will have to wonder in Rio how they can beat a Russian in the next lane. You have boxers who worry about getting hit in the face by a Russian opponent who just may be on the latest doping cocktail.And you have incompetent Olympic leaders who talk grandly about cleaning up the games, then bow to Putin when given a chance to make the biggest statement ever about the evils of doping in sports.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ' ' '