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STANFORD, Calif. - Venus Williams feels like the hometown girl when she plays at Stanford even though she grew up in Southern California and currently resides in Florida. She has enjoyed a lot of success here, made her professional debut at the event, and the crowd was clearly supporting her. "Its nice to have that support," Williams said after advancing to the Bank of the West quarterfinals Thursday night, beating fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 7-6 (1). "It was good to hear the oohs and aahs for both of us," the unseeded Williams said. "I dont want to let anybody down. This year has been a lot more relaxing than Southern California." Williams and Azarenka, both former world No. 1s, are working their way back to high level tennis following injuries and illness. Williams, who is 4-0 against the Belarusian, appears slightly ahead in her development. "Its always great to get a win against a player like Victoria, who is a champion," Williams said. "We played a high level and it got better as the match went on." After the 10th-ranked Azarenka, who celebrated her 25th birthday, saved three match points to tie it 6-6, Williams won the first five points in the tiebreaker. "The tiebreaker felt great," Williams said. "It brought out my best tennis. I needed the challenge." Azarenkas second serve was the biggest difference between the hard-hitting players. She won just 32 per cent of her second serves, handing Williams a significant advantage. "We both had good points," Azarenka said. "Venus was a little better on her execution on important points. I have to be realistic and look at the things that have to be done. Its not easy being patient but if I wanted easy, Id go sit on a couch." Despite losing, Azarenka was glad to be playing tennis on her birthday. "Losing is never satisfying," she said. "But I left the best part of my day on the court. I was able to do something I love on my birthday." Williams, who reached her third quarterfinal of the season, will face eighth-seeded Andrea Petkovic on Friday. Williams, in her 12th career appearance at Stanford, reached her 10th quarterfinal. She has won twice and finished second five times. Azarenka won the event in 2010 and has been eliminated in the second round in her last two appearances. "I was moving well and it was a good start," Azarenka said. "I know there is work to be done and that is what I want to do." Fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic also advanced, beating qualifier Carol Zhao 6-1, 6-1. The 11th-ranked Serb, looking for her fourth title of the year, will face top-ranked Serena Williams on Friday. "It will be a tough challenge but a good test to see where I need to work," Ivanovic said. "Its a different part of the season and a different kind of tournament." Ivanovic will move into the top 10 next week for the first time in five years. "I cant think too much about the future," Ivanovic said. "I am looking to turn it around at the U.S. Open. After the match today I went back out on the court to get the rhythm back on my serve. Thats what I need to be doing." Zhao, a sophomore All-America at Stanford, appeared in her second WTA Tour event and gained her first career win at the level Tuesday when Yanina Wickmeyer retired because of a viral infection. Ivanovic, a former No. 1, had three aces and won 75 per cent of her first-serve points. In other matches, third-seeded Angelique Kerber beat Coco Vandeweghe, 7-6 (4), 0-6, 6-2, and Garbine Muguruza topped Daniela Hantuchova, 6-4, 6-4. Cheap Nike Blazers Sale . Henderson (20-3) received winning scores of 48-47 and 49-46, and the other judge scored it 48-47 for Thomson (20-6). The announcement drew boos from the United Center crowd. "Train this hard for this long, its such a long camp and I see my title shot disappear," said Thomson, who fought most of the fight with a broken right hand. Wholeale Nike Blazers .com) - On the bright side, either the Minnesota Wild or Buffalo Sabres will end their losing streak on Thursday night. http://www.cheapnikeblazer.net/.C. United have acquired midfielder Alex Caskey from the Seattle Sounders for a third-round pick in the 2016 MLS draft. Cheap Nike Blazers . Globo TV and other news outlets said early Monday that Scolari will not remain as coach after the national teams failure to win the World Cup at home. Cheap Nike Blazers Wholesale . The 2010 batting champ showed what he can do when hes mostly healthy. Gonzalez homered, doubled and singled in his return to the lineup, and the Colorado Rockies snapped a five-game losing streak with a 13-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.Mark Buehrle set the tone to what has been a dominating start to the season with a near-shutout victory over Tampa Bay back in early April. The veteran will now shoot for his Major League-leading ninth victory of the campaign against the club as the Toronto Blue Jays play the middle contest of a three-game set on Tuesday night versus the Rays. Buehrle went 12-10 in 33 starts with the Blue Jays last season, posting a 4.15 earned run average in his first season with the franchise. However, he has appeared more comfortable in 2014, going 8-1 through 10 starts with a 2.16 ERA. He has not allowed more than two runs in nine of those outings and at 35 years of age is the oldest pitcher to win at least eight of his first 10 starts since both Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling went 8-1 in 2002 with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Buehrles season began with a victory over Tampa Bay on April 2, when he struck out a season-high 11 batters over 8 2/3 scoreless innings. That improved the hurler to 9-5 with a 4.21 ERA in 23 career meetings with the Rays, 18 of those starts. The left-handed Buehrle has won four straight decisions since suffering his only loss of the season on April 25 versus Boston. He got revenge for that setback last time out on Thursday, limiting the Red Sox to a pair of runs over seven frames of a 7-2 win. In the process, he became baseballs first eight-game winner and only St. Louis Adam Wainwright has been able to join him since. "Its nice, obviously," Buehrle said. "I try to throw it out the window and get ready for my next start." Buehrle should have some room to work with tonight if the Blue Jays can continue their hot hitting. Toronto went deep three times in Mondays 10-5 series-opening win, giving the club a homer in nine straight games and an MLB- high 73 home runs on the season. Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo homer versus the Rays and has hit nine homers over hiss last 11 games.dddddddddddd He has also gone deep 13 times in May, breaking Jose Bautistas 2010 club record for most homers in the month. Dioner Navarro and Steve Tolleson hit consecutive home runs in the fourth inning in Torontos seventh straight victory and 10th in its past 11 games. That bailed out starter Drew Hutchison, who got the win despite giving up five runs over five innings. "Nothing was good, nothing was sharp," Hutchison said. The Rays had a four-game winning streak snapped despite getting home runs from Desmond Jennings, James Loney and David DeJesus as starter Erik Bedard yielded eight runs and 13 hits in four-plus frames. "They just put the heavy gloves on and beat us up tonight," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. That kind of output could be enough to win tonight given Alex Cobbs current 21 2/3 scoreless-innings streak he carries into this start. That run is the third-longest in team history, behind Matt Moores 22 1/3-inning stretch last season and James Shields club-record mark of 23 consecutive innings set in 2011. Cobb has not allowed a run since giving up four over five innings of a loss to Toronto on April 1 in his first start of the season, dropping to 2-1 lifetime with a 2.95 ERA versus Toronto. The 26-year-old followed up that loss to the Blue Jays with consecutive scoreless outings before a trip to the disabled list caused by a left oblique strain. He returned to action for the first time in nearly six weeks on Thursday and shut out Oakland over 6 2/3 innings, scattering three hits and two walks while fanning six in a no-decision. "He was outstanding," said Maddon of Cobb, who is 1-1 with a 1.40 ERA on the year. "Having been off as long as he had, you saw the stuff, the strike throwing, the competitive nature." The Blue Jays have won three of five versus the Rays this season. ' ' '