n the ball as it began to descend over his head. He flung himself backwards on t

NEW YORK -- From the seasons first major, Down Under back in January, Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber have been the two best players in womens tennis. If they can win their semifinal matches against worthy opponents Thursday night, they will advance to a tantalizing winner-take-all final on Saturday that offers a Grand Slam title, a $3.5 million pay day and, perhaps most important, the No. 1 ranking.Womens semifinals breakdownNo. 1 Serena Williams versus No. 10 Karolina Pliskova, 4:30 AM IST (Friday, Sep 9)Case for Serena: This was precisely the spot a year ago where Williams melted down, a victim of the pressure she felt chasing a rare calendar-year Grand Slam. Roberta Vinci handed Serena her first Grand Slam singles loss of the season in the semifinals. Her trip through the draw this year has been marked by poise and composure, even though the stakes are nearly as high. On the line: a 23rd Grand Slam singles title, which would break the Open era record she shares with Steffi Graf, and the No. 1 ranking, something she has held for 186 consecutive weeks.Case for Pliskova: Right now, she has some absurd momentum working for her. Her Wednesday straight-sets win against Ana Konjuh in the quarterfinals was her 10th match win in a row, something she has never done. The run includes four wins over top-10 players (Svetlana Kuznetsova, Garbine Muguruza, Angelique Kerber and Venus Williams). Pliskova won the title in Cincinnati and is already into her first career major semifinal.Notable stat: Wham, bam. These are two biggest hitters in terms of aces. Pliskova leads all WTA players with 439. Serena is a distant second with 320.Prediction: Williams in two.No. 2 Angelique Kerber versus Caroline Wozniacki, following Serena-Pliskova (6:30 AM IST, Sep 9)Case for Kerber: The sturdy 28-year-old has already been to the final of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the Olympics and, most recently, Cincinnati. And while she lost in the past three -- to Serena Williams, Monica Puig and Karolina Pliskova -- getting there is half the battle. Kerber has a 7-5 head-to-head edge over Wozniacki; the two havent met in 2016, but a year ago, Kerber won two of three.Case for Wozniacki: New York seems to be Wozniackis kind of town. The 26-year-old Dane owns a posh apartment here and ran the New York City Marathon two years ago (in a sporty 3 hours, 26 minutes). She has also reached two US Open finals, in 2014 and 2009 -- the only times shes ever reached a major final.Notable stat: Wozniacki has been to at least the semifinals here four different times, while Kerber has only done it once, in 2011.Prediction: Kerber in three.Fake China Shoes . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. Air Max From China . But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach. https://www.chinashoes.us/ .com) - Following a late-game loss to the reigning NBA champs, the Toronto Raptors will look to sustain their recent high-level play as they travel to Indiana to take on the Pacers. China Shoes Wholesale . On Tuesday, Ottawa placed forward Cory Conacher and defenceman Joe Corvo on waivers as trade rumours swirl around the Senators. China Shoes Online . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday.Dont ball-watch.Dont underestimate the fielder.Ground your bat.Dive.Such advice is perhaps stating the obvious to an alert batsman, but Mohammad Amir was anything but switched on during the final ball of the 79th over, despite Pakistans precarious position at 192 for 7, ahead by only 136, in their second innings in Sharjah.The delivery began with Amir winding up and lofting Devendra Bishoo towards the long-on boundary. What followed was a comedy of errors. Amir kept his eyes on the soaring ball, possibly admiring his shot, and assumed it would go for six. After a couple of seconds, he strolled down the pitch to greet his partner Wahab Riaz, who may have also assumed it was a boundary because he did not run either.Far away at long-on, Roston Chase kept his eyes on the ball as it began to descend over his head. He flung himself backwards on the edge of the field, caught the ball, and as he began to fall over the boundary he threw it back into play.ddddddddddddChase then got back on his feet and returned the ball towards the non-strikers end, interrupting the conversation about to take place two-thirds down the pitch near the strikers end.Chases acrobatics jolted Amir back to reality and he began to run all of a sudden, taking Wahab by surprise. Amir had about 15 yards to cover to get to the bowlers end but he lost his bat and did not dive as Jason Holder rushed in from the leg-side to collect Chases accurate throw and run the batsman out. Had they run hard from the moment Amir hit the ball, Pakistan might have got three. ' ' '