Serena Williams was teed up for the upset. You could see it coming for Alize Cornet, the 49th-ranked Frenchwoman, whom Williams faced Monday in the second round of the Olympic Games in Rio. Cornet had beaten Williams the past three times they played, bringing their improbable rivalry square at three wins apiece.Just as ominous, the Olympic tournament was barely two days old and proving to be a hot mess -- a quagmire for favorites and stars.Among the casualties was mens top seed Novak Djokovic, who left the same Centre Court of the Barra Olympic Park weeping following his first-round loss Sunday to Juan Martin del Potro.Was it a further omen when top-seeded and three-time gold medalists Serena and Venus Williams were upset in the first round of doubles?Not hardly.Serena bent, but she did not break as she fought, foundered, recovered and hammered her way to a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win against Cornet.Ive lost some tough matches to her in the past, Williams told the on-court interviewer immediately afterward. I just had to not let all the elements get in my head because I didnt play great against her in the past.Cornets wins against Williams all happened in 2014, a stormy year for the American. And the skies werent always piercing blue for Williams in the interim, either. Who would have predicted that semifinal loss to Roberta Vinci at last years US Open? And what about her shortcomings in her next two Grand Slams, in Australia and France earlier this year?Cornet has the kind of game that makes other players want to teach her a lesson. Shes like a pebble in the shoe of everyone she plays. Shes tireless, her game is unpredictable, her attitude brazen. That puffball serve of hers begs to be clobbered, but its hard to time it right -- especially for a player like Williams, who feeds on pace. Cornets backhand is her pride and joy. Maybe thats why Williams went after it so wolfishly, stubbornly -- and futilely -- trying to break it down.Williams is 34, and questions always follow an aging athlete. Its all the more marked in the case of an icon like Williams. And the questions tend to repeat themselves. So do the answers. Over and over. At Wimbledon, she rebounded with an historic title. So its hardly surprising that once again Williams got into a jam Monday that she found a way to drill her way out of it.After racing to a 3-0 lead, Williams serve deserted her. She was broken, thanks to an untimely double fault in the next game. Then she failed to convert any of four break points in an agonizingly long game that followed, allowing Cornet to find some rhythm and work her way back into contention.Cornet is the wrong cat to let out of a bag. That was painfully clear to Williams when she found herself down double-set point at 4-5. Williams, however, hit a booming serve and powdered a backhand drive volley to dismiss one set point. Then she neutralized the other with an unreturnable serve.She continued hitting her dominant first serve and the crisis passed.An Olympic medal, like a coin, has two sides. The flip side of this one says that despite the drama and struggle, Williams did what Djokovic, Agnieszka Radwanska, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Venus and Ana Ivanovic -- to name a few -- have failed to do.She has lived to play another day in Rio. Wholesale Air Jordan 1 Australia . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play. Air Jordan 1 Retro Cheap . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. http://www.wholesaleairjordan1australia.com/ . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. Air Jordan 1 For Sale Cheap . Emery skated the length of the ice and fought an unwilling Holtby during the third period of the Flyers 7-0 loss Friday night in Philadelphia. He was given 29 penalty minutes, including a game misconduct. But Emery did not face even a disciplinary hearing with NHL senior vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan because rules 46. Air Jordan 1 Australia .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. MONTREAL -- The World Anti-Doping Agency has extended the period in which athletes testing positive for meldonium can escape sanctions.Under WADAs new guidelines, athletes who test positive for a low concentration of meldonium between March 1 and Sept. 30 can be cleared based on a no fault finding.WADA extended a policy that had previously covered the period from Jan. 1-March 1.The agency updated the rules following further studies that showed the drug takes much longer to be cleared from the system than previously thought.The guidelines cover athletes who maintain they took meldonium before Jan. 1, the date the drug was officially placed on the banned list.Hundreds of positive tests have been recorded since then. Many athletes said they had stopped taking the substance long before Jan. 1 but the drug had remained in their system for weeks or months.The WADA guidelines do not apply in the case of Maria Sharapova, who tested positive for the drug at the Australian Open in January and has beeen suspended for two years by the International Tennis Federation.dddddddddddd The Russian acknowledged taking meldonium after Jan. 1. She is appealing her sanction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.WADA said no fault findings apply in cases where less than 1 microgram per milliliter of the drug is detected. Anything above that should be handled as a doping case.We are pleased that the necessary urinary excretion studies have now progressed, and that the guidance we are now able to provide our stakeholders to help them manage meldonium cases is clear and scientifically robust, WADA President Craig Reedie said.The Latvian-made drug, which is typically prescribed for heart conditions, was widely used as a supplement by athletes in Eastern European countries. The drug increases blood flow, which improves exercise capacity by carrying more oxygen to the muscles. ' ' '