News » Alberta a steal of two

TASHKENT -- Moscow-born Vesna Dolonc of Serbia won a main-drawn match for the first time since Wimbledon when she beat eighth-seeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-6 (6), 7-5 in the first round of the Tashkent Open on Tuesday. Paco Alcacer Jersey . The defeat of Shvedova, who went three rounds at the U.S. Open, ensured at least two unseeded players will reach the quarterfinals. No. 7-seeded Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan became the sixth and last of the eight seeds to make the second round when she took care of Maryna Zanevska of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4. Also opening winners were Julia Glushko of Israel, Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic, Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain and Misaki Doi of Japan. Marwin Hitz Jersey . Showing more spark after not taking enough challenging shots on goal in their 1-0 loss Friday night, the Bruins had 18 shots in the first period after managing just 25 in the entire opener. Luke Glendening cut Bostons lead to 2-1 at 13:20 of the second period before Milan Lucic scored late in the second and Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal early in the third. Sergio Gomez Dortmund Jersey . Canadas 5-1 loss to Finland in the semifinal ranks as the tournaments most-watched game with a record 2.7 million viewers, the largest ever for a World Juniors game played outside of North America, and winning Saturday as the most-watched program on Canadian television. http://www.footballdortmundpro.com/Kids-Lukasz-Piszczek-Jersey/ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night.MONTREAL -- Val Sweeting could not hide the excitement of reaching her first final at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The Alberta skip made an open draw to the button on the final stone of an extra end to defeat Manitobas Chelsea Carey 6-5 in the semifinal on Saturday night. Sweeting will face defending champion Rachel Homans Canada squad in the final on Sunday night. "Its huge," said Sweeting, who is playing in her second Scotties. "To be one game away from a dream come true like that, it feels really good." It wont be easy. Homan is 12-0 in the tournament, including a 10-5 win over Alberta on Tuesday in the round robin. "Its going to be a good game -- close with lots of rocks in play," said Sweeting. "Well try to get them drawing and hope the angles are in our favour. Theyre really good at the high, hard ones, so we have to watch out where our rocks are." Alberta third Joanne Courtney said the key is to keep Homans team from pulling out the three-or-four point ends they have used to roll over most opponents in the tournament. "You cant afford to miss too many against them,"said Courtney. "Theyve scored a lot of big ends this week, so we have to be careful when they have hammer with what we leave around. "Theyre really good at weight. Sometimes you think you put it in the right spot and they make a triple or something." Courtney put her second shot straight through the house in the extra end, but Carey was unable to make her pay for the error. "I knew shed want that one back, but the button was still open and, as a skip, thats all you want," said Sweeting. Sweeting, who finished fourth in the round-robin portion of the tournament, got to the semifinal with an 8-7 victory Saturday morning over Saskatchewans Stefanie Lawton. Carey, who will play in the bronze medal game against Lawton, was dismayed at a spotty performance. "Its terrible, it sucks," she said, lamenting too many missed shots. "There were a bunch throughout the game. "We fought the inch a bit. We played a great game (Friday against Homan) and didnt win, and played a not-great game today and didnt win. Its just not our week, I guess." Manitoba emerged from the first five ends with a 2-1 lead, but neither team looked sharp. After the break, Sweeting hit for two in the sixth to take the lead, then ggot another in the seventh when Careys draw to the button ran long. Marius Wolf Dortmund Jersey. The next end, it was Sweeting who went long on a draw and Carey was able to score two. Then Sweeting was a tad heavy on a hit in a bid for two and had to settle for one. She took a 5-4 lead, but gave Carey the hammer going into the 10th. Carey left a draw short on her first rock, then drew for one to send it to an extra end. In the third-versus fourth game, Lawton left draws well short in the seventh and eighth ends to allow Alberta to steal five points en route to an 8-7 victory. The missed shots left her squad down 8-3 with two ends to play. They closed the gap at the end but the outcome was not in doubt. The Saskatchewan skip looked devastated. "I had great draw weight at the beginning of the game and I just seemed to lose it after the sixth end," the Saskatoon resident said. "Just two tough draws and I couldnt make it for the girls and I feel not so good about that." Saskatchewan looked to have taken control with a steal of one in the fifth for a 3-1 lead, but things went south after the break. Lawton missed a double takeout that gave Sweeting an easy two to tie it in the sixth. Then Lawton left a draw short to give Alberta a steal of two in the seventh for its first lead of the game. A crisp Sweeting double takeout in the eight left a crowd of Alberta stones in the house. Lawton tried to draw into them but a groan went up from the grandstands as she left it short again for a steal of three. She rebounded with two in the ninth and Sweetings rink played with fire in the 10th by letting Saskatchewan put stones in the house. But a Sweeting takeout with the last stone sealed the victory despite Saskatchewans steal of two. "The ice was great," said Lawton. "It was a little keener and straighter but nothing we couldnt adjust to. "It was just a matter of making better shots." Now she hopes to salvage something by taking third place. "Were going to come out and play for that bronze medal because wed be very proud to win that one," she said. It is Lawtons third Scotties after appearances in 2005 and 2009, and all three times she lost in the 3-versus-4 game. She finished third in round-robin play at 8-3 but lost to Yukon (2-9) in her last game Friday. Fourth-place Sweeting had lost 8-6 to Lawton in the round robin. ' ' '