Beta[Mn] » s huge. I thought about going for it on fourth down

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The hope of an all-Williams final at the Dubai Championships ended on the racket of Frenchwoman Alize Cornet on Friday. Darryl Strawberry Jersey . The 26th-ranked Cornet scored her first career victory over a No. 1 player when she upset Serena Williams 6-4, 6-4. "Im so excited," Cornet said, smiling broadly. "I didnt expect that definitely, and Im really, really happy and proud of myself. "Shes one -- or maybe -- the biggest champion of history, and, wow, just thinking that I beat her today." Earlier in the day, Venus Williams earned her spot in the final when she dominated eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-3, 6-2. Serena Williams, playing in her first tournament since losing in the Australian Open fourth round, offered no excuses. She said her back, which had been hurting in recent weeks, was fine. "Im a wee bit embarrassed," said Williams, who started laughing. "She played really well. I just didnt play today. "I tried, though. I dont think I have made that many errors in a match in I think at least three years, maybe four years." Williams gave herself a failing grade for being unable to find a winning formula for the match: "I think out of a 10, I was at like a negative 283." Cornet won the first set when Williams flinched while serving in the ninth game. Cornet, who reached the Paris Indoors semifinal earlier this month, took advantage of her one-set point in the 10th game with a winning backhand down the line. The Frenchwoman then jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the second set, but Williams rebounded. Cornet broke Williams serve again in the seventh game with a winning forehand down the line. Williams fought off four match points on her own serve in the ninth game, but Cornet served out the match at love. "I know her, and I know she feels the moment when she has to put more into making the opponent feel that shes still here," Cornet said. "But I did it, too. I showed her that I would be there till the end. "So when she was screaming louder, I was screaming louder. She was hitting harder, I was hitting harder." In contrast to her sister, the 44th-ranked Venus Williams has been playing top level tennis all week long in Dubai. A former two-time Dubai champion in 2009 and 2010, Williams currently holds a 14-match winning streak at the tournament. She didnt play in this event between 2011 and 2013. "I feel like Ive just gotten so much better since my first round to now, just feeling comfortable on the court, feeling comfortable when Im behind, feeling comfortable when Im in the lead," Williams said. Williams, who lost the Auckland final to Ana Ivanovic last month, lost an early 2-0 lead in the first set. But from 2-2, Williams always held the lead in the match. Williams failed to serve out the first set at 5-2, surrendering that eighth game at love. Wozniacki, however, surrendered her serve -- and the first set -- on a second set point in the next game Williams broke Wozniackis serve at 15-40 with a textbook backhand volley for a 2-0 lead in the second set. She broke serve again in the eighth game for the win. "I didnt really feel like I could go out and play what I wanted to play," said Wozniacki, who won the Dubai trophy in 2011. "Once I got going, she started to play better as well. It was kind of uphill today." Venus Williams holds a 3-0 lead in matches played against Cornet. Amed Rosario Jersey . Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema scored two goals each Wednesday night in a 6-1 rout of Schalke in the first leg of their second-round matchup. "We played a very, very good match," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "We got well into the match, scored two early goals and that opened the game and left us able to counter and to use the speed of our players. Tug McGraw Jersey . -- After a year spent travelling the world, Brooks Koepka suddenly is in a position to play a lot more golf at home. https://www.cheapmetsjerseys.us/ . I kind of got a taste of being able to pick a suit with the draft lottery, I went with the bow tie. EL PASO, Texas -- Brett Hundley shredded Virginia Techs fourth-ranked defence in the Sun Bowl. The UCLA quarterback had 86- and 7-yard touchdown runs and finished with 161 yards on 10 carries in the No. 17 Bruins 42-12 victory over the Hokies on Tuesday. "I guess he can run a little," UCLA coach Jim Mora said. "He played well. He was poised." Hundley also completed 16 of 29 passes for 226 yards and two scores. "It was a special game," Hundley said. "We played well as an offence. We had to make adjustments. When we did, we got things going." Hundley and UCLA linebacker Jordan Zumwalt shared MVP honours. Zumwalt had 10 tackles and returned an interception 43 yards to set up a touchdown. "Its the best game Ive ever seen him play," Mora said about Zumwalt. "He was unbelievable from start to finish. The Bruins (10-3) outscored the Hokies (8-5) 28-2 in the fourth quarter. After Virginia Tech cut it to 14-10 on Michael Branthovers 22-yard field goal with 3:53 left in the third quarter, UCLA answered with a 12-play, 85-yard drive, capped by Paul Perkinss 5-yard run early in the fourth. Hokies backup quarterback Mark Leal then threw a pass under heavy pressure that linebacker Myles Jack intercepted and returned 29 yards for a touchdown that made it 28-10. "In the second half we blocked things up better," Mora said. "We got back to doing what we do best. We played with great tempo. We were not as uptight." Virginia Tech, which lost starting quarterback Logan Thomas to an injury in the second quarter, got its final points when UCLA punter Sean Covington stepped on the end line for a safety with 9:38 left. Thomas, Virginia Techs career passing leader, left after taking a big hit along the UCLA sideline early in the second quarter. The hit resulted in a 15-yard penalty on the Bruins. "It was tough to miss time on the field, the worst feeling of my career," Thomas ssaid. Daniel Zamora Jersey. "I would have rather you guys talk bad about me than miss time on the field. We were doing some good things on offence. I thought we were right on the verge of doing some good things." UCLA pushed it to 35-12 on Hundleys 8-yard touchdown pass to Thomas Duarte with 7:31 to play. The Bruins stayed aggressive late, and Hundley fired a 59-yard scoring strike down the right sideline to Shaquelle Evans for another score with 5:49 remaining. It wasnt that easy early on, though, for UCLA, which led 14-7 at the half. Hundley had six carries for 168 yards in the half. He set the Sun Bowl record for rushing yards by a quarterback by halftime, even though he lost 7 yards in the second to finish at 161. The Bruins rushed for 202 yards in the first half, and finished with 197. The win in the first meeting between the teams allowed UCLA to post its first 10-win season since 2005, and helped the Bruins forget last seasons 49-26 loss to Baylor in the Holiday Bowl. Virginia Tech had its second-worst loss in a bowl game. Its worst was a 42-3 loss to North Carolina in the 1998 Gator Bowl. The 42 points the Hokies allowed were the second-most in a bowl game behind the 52 they gave up in a 52-49 loss to California in the 2003 Insight Bowl. While the Hokies, making their 21st consecutive bowl appearance, were able to limit UCLAs running backs to 49 yards, they had no answer for Hundley, who repeatedly gouged them for big gainers on designed quarterback counters. "UCLA made the plays it had to and you have to give them credit," Hokies coach Frank Beamer said. "I was disappointed that we didnt execute better. "When we recovered the fumble down 14-7, I had hoped we could have punched it in for a touchdown, but we had to settle for three and then UCLA comes back and scores to make it 21-10. That was huge. I thought about going for it on fourth down but we just wanted to get something on the board." ' ' '