~~**PINNWAND**~~ » red in the Dodgers 2-1 victory over the

After an appearance at the French Open and a five-match run at the Aegon Classic, Blainville, Quebecs Aleksandra Wozniak reflects on her play and her preparation for Roland Garros in her personal blog on RDS.ca and TSN.ca. The last few weeks have been hectic between my participation at Roland Garros and my debut this Tuesday at Wimbledon. It was a heartbreaking match against Sorana Cirstea at the French Open about two weeks ago. Its been awhile since I found myself in a situation like that. I lost the match by a hair after being at match point. Against the 26th-seed in the tournament, a player who hits very hard, its already promised to be difficult. I played a very good game until I dropped the second set and it has been a little hard to get over it eventually. I rather started playing a little too defensively and it let her take the lead and I dropped points. I made too many mistakes in the third set and its been difficult for me after the meeting. But its time to turn the page quickly to tackle the season on grass. I trained with artificial turf on the site of Roland Garros and made the adjustments necessary to make the transition from clay to grass, which is not easy because its a completely different game. Balls move faster, points come quicker with up to three exchanges, and it is rare that there are more than that. It was necessary to modify some aspects of my game accordingly. To put these adjustments into practice, I flew to Birmingham where I had an excellent tournament. I played five big matches, including two in qualifying. My progress was stopped, however, in the third round by former Wimbledon semi-finalist, Kirsten Flipkens. I won the first set 6-1 and was leading the second 3-1, but Flipkens came back strong and served well. She played better in the third set than I did. While she was aggressive, I struggled with my games and was fighting shots. Flipkens is especially difficult to play on grass because of the way she can slice and her net play, so its no surprise that she went as far as she did at Wimbledon in 2013. Still, it was a good tournament for me and there was a lot to be gained from it. Little by little, Im improving in the rankings. Im up to 118th in the world, which is an improvement of 17 places since the last rankings. My coach, Nathalie Tauziat, also said she likes the progress in my game that shes noticed since the beginning of this European swing at the Cagnes-sur-Mer tournament in France. Were continuing to move forward and this is encouraging. It just takes one good tournament run to accumulate points and keep propelling forward. Tomorrow (June 17), I have another opportunity to build on this momentum when I begin qualifying for the main draw at Wimbledon. I will face Renata Voracova, not a very well-known player, who is ranked 172nd in the world. Shes a regular doubles player on top of singles and loves to play at the net. Voracova loves to play on grass and Im going to have to dictate the pace from the start. Because the ball doesnt bounce as well on grass, Im going to have to keep low, legs bent, in anticipation of its movement. Qualification continues on Wednesday and Thursday. A woman amongst the men A little bit of a digression here on the recent news of Andy Murray hiring Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach. Its rare to see a woman in this position, especially in the ATP, because often, after their careers, female players spend time with their families. I think Murray picked Mauresmo with good reason. Shes a former Grand Slam champion (the Australian Open and Wimbledon) with lots of experience. He sees what she can provide, but this is a bit of a different approach. In my case, it was last year when I began training with a female coach after years of training with men. We get along well because Nathalie understands the emotions of a player. Their new partnership is a trial for the grass court season. Its difficult to find the right mix between the player and coach and theres always a period of adjustment. Chemistry wont be built in an instant. Murray will assess all of this after Wimbledon to see if the potential for a longer-term partnership is there. Cheap Nike Shoes .Y. -- As if the worst start in franchise history isnt bad enough, Buffalo Sabres President Ted Black braced his teams win-starved fans for potentially more tough times. Nike Shoes Clearance Sale . Mission accomplished. Now the Royals will take the field on Saturday with a World Series lead for the first time in team history when they play Game 4 of the Fall Classic against the Giants at AT&T Park. http://www.nikeshoesclearance.com/. -- During Kansas shootaround on Wednesday before the Jayhawks faced Oklahoma, coach Bill Self told Wayne Selden Jr. Cheap Nike Shoes Wholesale . Huntington doesnt want to help run the club unless Hurdle is in the dugout. The combination thats returned the franchise to respectability will remain intact for years to come. Nike Shoes Clearance . The Senators return from a lengthy layoff caused by Wednesdays attack on Parliament Hill to host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- After the cumulative disaster of his last five starts, Dan Haren didnt spare a thought for his potential perfect game when he took the mound in the sixth inning. "Ive just been trying to have a perfect inning," Haren said. Haren and Kenley Jansen got close enough in a resilient win for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Haren pitched three-hit ball into the eighth inning, and Matt Kemp homered in the Dodgers 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night. Haren (9-9) retired the Angels first 16 batters in his best start since June for the NL leaders, who improved the majors best road record to 35-23 by beating the majors best home team. "I tried almost everything, and it finally started working a little bit," Haren said. He had lost his last five starts with a 10.03 ERA, leaving him despondent after games, but the former Angels right-hander was dominant at the stadium where he played from 2010-12. "It was nice to take him out of a game with a smile on his face instead of feeling like he let everybody down," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. Harens bullpen also helped him out -- particularly his closer. Kole Calhoun singled and stole second leading off the ninth, but Jansen struck out Mike Trout, got Albert Pujols on a fly to centre and struck out Josh Hamilton to wrap up his 32nd save. "Jansen made good pitches when he needed to against three of our best hitters," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We didnt do nearly what we needed to do to support Matty Shoemaker. I thought he gave us a good chance to win." Shoemaker (9-4) yielded six hits and struck out five over six solid innings for the Angels. Andre Ethier had an RBI double in the second inning as the Freeway Series moved down the I-55 to Anaheim after the clubs split the first two games in Chavez Ravine.dddddddddddd Erick Aybar singled and scored in the eighth for the Angels, who missed a chance to move within one game of major league-leading Oakland in the AL West. Hank Congers one-out single in the sixth was the Angels first hit. "With a guy like him, you kind of disregard his past starts," said Conger, who caught Haren several times when they were teammates. "Because any day he could step on the mound and do what he did tonight. Hes been an elite pitcher for a long time." Haren left in the eighth after giving up a single to Aybar, who scored on Chris Iannettas long fly off Brandon League. Kemp hit his sixth homer in nine games in the second inning, a 400-foot shot to left. Ethier followed with a run-scoring double in only the high-priced outfielders second start in 13 games. OUT AT THIRD: Conger tested Yasiel Puigs throwing arm, trying to go from first to third on David Freeses single in the sixth. Puig got him with a perfect throw from centre. BIG ZEROS: Trout, Pujols and Hamilton were a combined 0 for 12. Trout, who turns 23 on Thursday, had his 20-game interleague hitting streak snapped. TRAINERS ROOM: Dodgers: Utility infielder Chone Figgins was designated for assignment after his minor league injury rehab assignment ended. Angels: Freese didnt start, ostensibly to rest a sore tendon in his left knee, but eventually replaced light-hitting John McDonald. ON DECK: Dodgers: Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-5, 3.39 ERA) goes after his fourth win in five starts. He threw a shutout against the Angels last season. Angels: C.J. Wilson (8-7, 4.74 ERA) attempts to get his season back on track after getting rocked last week in his return from the disabled list. ' ' '