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ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Top-ranked Serena Williams breezed past Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-1 to open her bid for a fourth ATP Championships title on Tuesday. Williams, the defending champion, had no trouble against Kerber, who also lost to the American 6-4, 6-1 in the round-robin at this event last year. Kerber was the only player to beat Williams last year - in Cincinnati - after the Americans first-round ouster at the French Open. "Today she was playing unbelievable, and I had actually no chance. I mean, she was serving great and also returning unbelievable," Kerber said. "So I was just giving all I could, but yeah, its tough to play against Serena like this." Williams was particularly effective with her backhand return, the shot she also used on her first match point. Kerber, who had two straight double-faults to surrender the first game of the second set, produced another to give Williams three match points. Although she is 32, considered a ripe age in tennis, Williams is enjoying the finest season in her career, having already won 10 titles. She added the French Open and U.S. Open titles to bring her Grand Slam record to 17 championships and is 74-4 for the year. Earlier, second-ranked Victoria Azarenka overcame an erratic performance to beat an ailing Sara Errani 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the opening match of tournament. "I was a little rusty at the beginning. I think its a little bit expected after a break, and playing right away against a top player always makes it a little bit difficult," Azarenka said. Williams, making her eighth appearance in the event, is looking to become the first player to successfully defend the title since Justine Henin in 2007. If she achieves the feat, she would equal Chris Evert for third most WTA Championships with her fourth. Henin was also the last to win 10 titles in a season, in 2007. Williams has clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking for the third time in her career after 2002 and 2009. Errani hurt her right calf in the third game of the second set and took a medical timeout to have it treated. Several times after that she seemed to be bothered by the injury and to favour her right leg, although she returned after the medical timeout to break Azarenkas serve to level at 2-2. She did not win another game though. "In the tiebreaker I felt a pain in my calf on serve," Errani said. "The first set was very tough, very long. I was running a lot." Errani served for the set three times -- and dropped serve each time as both players produced sloppy play with little rhythm. Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, managed to hold her serve only once through the first eight games but seized her chance when it came. She won four straight points in the tiebreaker to take a 5-3 lead, then faltered when she served her sixth double-fault. But an error by Errani gave Azarenka two set points. Errani then committed a double-fault and Azarenka had the set. "I think, overall was important to take that first set. It was a big turnaround point," Azarenka said. Azerenka, who was runner-up in the event in 2011 and a semifinalist last year, finished with eight double-faults but she also had 51 winners for Erranis 28. Azarenkas win was her first since losing the U.S. Open final to Serena Williams. Azarenka lost both of her opening matches in Tokyo and Beijing, where she had 15 double-faults. The tournament brings together the top eight players in the world. Third-ranked Maria Sharapova dropped out with a shoulder injury. The players are split onto two round-robin groups, with the top two finishers from each pool advancing to the semifinals. Gary Trent Jr. Jersey . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency. Portland Trail Blazers Jerseys . 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With only one selection in the first two rounds — Walters sent his second-round pick to Saskatchewan in the days ahead of the 2013 trade deadline — the No. Jusuf Nurkic Blazers Jersey . The 49ers, 6-2 and riding a five-game winning streak following the bye week, also waived cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha and activated cornerback Eric Wright from the reserve/non-football injury list. Manningham made 42 receptions for 449 yards and one touchdown in 12 games and 10 starts last season before injuring his left knee in a loss at Seattle Dec. TORONTO -- Dwane Casey saw it as a sign of maturity on the part of his young team. After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. "Thats another step in our growth," Casey said after Friday nights win at Air Canada Centre. "Last year at this time, if wed have missed shots like that wed have caved in. "But we kept grinding it, grinding it, grinding it and thats what you have to do when the shots arent falling." The Raptors (30-25) shot a woeful 32.7 per cent from the field in the first half and trailed 44-39. But, with second-year centre Jonas Valanciunas leading the way, Toronto shot an impressive 16-for 23, or 69.5 per cent, in the third quarter on the way to winning their fourth game in five starts. "We said we need to pick it up, we need to come out with energy," Valanciunas, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, said of the talk in the locker room at halftime. "Thats what it was all about. "We shot really bad the first half but we did a better job the second half and thats what matters." Valanciunas scored 10 of his 14 second-half points in the third quarter, including five in a row during a 4:07 stretch that saw the Raptors turn a one-point deficit into a 10-point lead. Second-year guard Terrence Ross had a team-high 20 points as the Raptors snapped the Cavaliers (22-34) six-game winning streak and widened their lead to 3-1/2 games over the idle Brooklyn Nets atop the NBAs Atlantic Division. With the win, the Raptors equalled the third-fastest time theyve reached the 30-win mark in team history, just one game off the best mark of 54 games in both the 2009-10 and 2007-08 seasons. The Raptors, who have missed the playoffs in each of the past five seasons, diidnt win their 30th game until their 78th outing last year.dddddddddddd Although Ross led the Raptors in scoring, it was his defensive play against Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving, who was named MVP of last weekends NBA All-Star Game, that drew rave reviews from his teammates. "Defensively, hes always been impressive, and hes getting better," Toronto guard Kyle Lowry said after Irving was held to 3-for-16 shooting on his way to 17 points. "I told him that on the bench tonight." Lowry had 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds. DeMar DeRozan added 14 points and five assists. Clevelands Luol Deng led all scorers with 21 points and added 11 rebounds while Tristan Thompson of Brampton, Ont., added 13 points and nine assists and Anthony Bennett, also from Brampton, who last spring became the first Canadian to ever go first overall in the NBA draft, had nine points in his first game here. "We just had to pick up our defensive intensity," Ross said of the message delivered at halftime. "The biggest thing, we were coming out, playing too lackadaisical and we had to pick that up." Toronto outscored Cleveland 37-21 in the third quarter to take control. Valanciunas made a layup with 7:22 to go in the quarter to put the Raptors up for good at 53-52. After Valanciunas and Amir Johnson combined for just four points in the first half, Casey said he gave the big men "a wake-up call" going into the second half and they responded at both ends of the court. "We reminded them theres more to the game than the offensive end," Casey said. "You can get rebounds. You can get back in transition. You can challenge shots and you can go vertical. "You can do a lot of different things other than make shots and I thought the second half (they) worked at it and got it done." ' ' '