MELBOURNE, Australia -- Venus Williams was moving freely in her first-round match at the Australian Open, breezing through the first set and getting a look at another break in the second against a player who upset her sister here two years ago. Thats when things started to go wrong for her Monday, the first day of the season-opening major. The seven-time Grand Slam champion missed the break-point chance in the sixth game and then, after getting to 40-30 on serve in the ninth, inexplicably firing three consecutive double-faults to surrender a break and just about the set to No. 22-seeded Ekaterina Makarova. After a quick break and a change of her self-designed zebra print dress, she took a 3-0 lead in the third before her unforced error toll climbed to 56 and Makarova won six of the next seven games for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win. The 33-year-old Williams, the second-oldest player in the tournament, has struggled with injuries and illness in recent seasons but reached the final of the WTA event at Auckland to start 2014 and came to Melbourne saying she was feeling better than she had in years. "The last 12 months I have had issues," she said. "But this year I definitely am looking forward to having a good run and feeling well." That didnt happen Monday. "My level was a little bit too up and down. Obviously my error count was a little high," said Williams, the 2003 finalist who was playing in her 14th Australian Open. "I have to give her a lot of credit, though, she was very determined ... played hard." Makarova said because it was the first match of the tournament, it was probably more difficult to beat Venus than it was to upset Serena Williams in the fourth round here in 2012. Shell meet another American in the second round after qualifier Irina Falconi beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-3, 6-1. Two highly-ranked Italians lost in the first round, with 2012 French Open finalist Sara Errani, seeded 7th, beaten 6-3, 6-2 by Julia Gorges of Germany and No. 12 Roberta Vinci losing 6-4, 6-3 to Zheng Jie of China. Montreal native Eugenie Bouchard, who is seeded 30th, reached the second round with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Chen Tang Hao of China. Bouchard led the opening set 3-1, only to fall behind 5-3. Bouchard saved set points in the ensuing game on Tang errors before finally earning a 7-5 win on a break. The 19-year-old Bouchard was more in control in the second set and dominated to win the set 6-1. Vasek Pospisil, a 23-year-old Vancouver resident who grew up in Vernon, B.C., also won his opening match early Monday. The 28th seed, playing in a grand slam for the first time, defeated unseeded Sam Groth of Australia 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Two-time finalist Li Na beat Ana Konjuh of Croatia -- the youngest player in the tournament -- 6-2, 6-0 in 61 minutes to set up a meeting with another 16-year-old in the next round after Belinda Bencic of Switzerland accounted for 43-year-old Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in three sets. Date-Krumm was 27 years older than Bencic, the reigning French Open and Wimbledon junior champion. The 2011 French Open champion is in the same half of the draw as No. 1-ranked Serena Williams, who was scheduled to play a night match against Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty. Wimbledon semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens was the first woman into the second round when she beat Britains Laura Robson 6-3, 6-0. No. 9 Angelique Kerber, 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur, No. 14 Ana Ivanovic, No. 26 Lucie Safarova, No. 28 Flavia Pennetta, No. 30 Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and No. 31 Daniela Hantuchova also went through. American Madison Keys wasted five match points in the second set and another in the third before finally beating Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria 6-2, 6-7 (8), 9-7. Eighth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka, who won the recent Chennai Open in India, was the first man into the next round, advancing after just 15 games when Andrey Golubev retired with an injured left leg. Wawrinka, who lost 12-10 in the fifth set to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the fourth round here last year in the longest Grand Slam match of 2013, was leading 6-4, 6-1 when his Kazakhstan rival quit. Two other players retired due to shoulder injuries, with Alex Bogomolov Jr., quitting after losing two sets to No. 15 Fabio Fognini and No. 12-seeded Tommy Haas pulling out when he was down a set and a break against Guilllermo Garcia-Lopez. Third-ranked David Ferrer opened with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Colombias Alejandro Gonzalez on Rod Laver Arena and No. 7 Tomas Berdych beat Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Ukraine 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Other men advancing included No. 9 Richard Gasquet, No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 19 Kevin Anderson, No. 23 Ernests Gulbis, No. 29 Jeremy Chardy, No. 32 Ivan Dodig, who beat fellow Croatian Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (8), 6-3, 7-6 (4), and American Sam Querrey, who defeated Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3). Nike NFL Jerseys 2020 .com) - The Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics both entered Wednesday nights game riding lengthy losing streaks. MLB Jerseys . Forsman closed with a 3-under 69 in windy conditions Sunday for his third Champions Tour title. He beat Jay Don Blake by two shots. https://www.cheapmlbjerseysjustwholesale.com/ . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. Nike NCAA Jerseys 2020 . A 19-game winner with the New York Yankees in both 2006 and 2007, Wang spent most of this year at Triple-A for the Yankees and Blue Jays. The 33-year-old right-hander was 1-2 with a 7. Jermaine Marrow Jersey . Louis Blues, having added Ryan Miller and Steve Ott from Buffalo, remain the No.TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays have put up some impressive numbers of late and the long ball is helping them get it done. Edwin Encarnacion hit two of Torontos season-high five home runs as the Blue Jays capped a two-game mini-sweep of Philadelphia by outscoring the Phillies 12-6 on Thursday at Rogers Centre. It was the second straight night that the Blue Jays had a double-digit run total as they extended their winning streak to five games. "Were some kinda hot right now," said Jays manager John Gibbons. Toronto (18-17) has hit at least one homer in eight straight games, a big reason why they have moved back over the .500 mark. Colby Rasmus, Juan Francisco and Adam Lind also went deep to help make a winner of R.A. Dickey (3-3). "Were swinging it good right now and everybody is feeding off each other," Gibbons said. "I would say right now its probably a good club to pitch for." Dickey had a few rough moments but his knuckleball was moving nicely and it regularly handcuffed the Phillies. He worked into the seventh inning and struck out a season-high eight batters. "Im making strides," he said. "I had a good (knuckler). I had one that was a swing-and-miss one tonight. It was comfortable out of my hand all night long." Former Blue Jay starter A.J. Burnett (2-2) was roughed up for six earned runs over six innings. He allowed nine hits and two walks while striking out four. "Balls ran over the plate tonight," Burnett said. "I wasnt on the corners at all. The hook was inconsistent. I had it at times. The bottom line is the balls werent on the corners, the ball was in the middle of the plate." Encarnacion set the tone early by blasting his 200th career homer in the second inning. "(Im) swinging at better pitches, (Im) more confident and (Im) feeling great at the plate," Encarnacion said through translator Luis Rivera. Rasmus hit a rainbow shot that barely cleared the wall by the right-field pole later in the frame. Lind added a two-run shoot in the sixth inning as the Blue Jays pulled away.dddddddddddd "You want to come in and stop the bleeding and set the tone and that wasnt there," Burnett said. Encarnacion added a two-run shot in the seventh and Francisco tagged a solo shot on the next pitch. Jose Reyes broke out of a slump as his ground-rule double in the third inning ended an 0-for-10 skid. He stole third and came home on a Jose Bautista sacrifice fly. Reyes was at it again in the fifth inning after he was hit by a pitch. The speedy shortstop -- who battled a hamstring problem last month -- stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a Bautista groundout. "You can tell hes feeling a lot more comfortable and he was able to turn it loose," Gibbons said. The Blue Jays have won their last eight meetings against Philadelphia (15-18). They will continue their nine-game homestand Friday with the opener of a four-game set against the Los Angeles Angels. Toronto, which clobbered the Phillies 10-0 a night earlier, outhit Philadelphia 13-10 in front of an announced crowd of 18,158. The Phillies opened the scoring in the second inning and scratched out singles runs in the fifth and the seventh. Ryan Howard hit a two-run shot off reliever Esmil Rogers in Philadelphias three-run ninth inning. Dickey allowed seven hits, three earned runs and walked three batters over 6 1-3 innings pitched. Notes: The game took three hours to play. ... Olympic curling champion Brad Jacobs was in attendance. ... Toronto optioned right-hander Chad Jenkins to triple-A Buffalo before the game. ... Bautista has reached base in all 35 games this season. ... It was Encarnacions 12th career multi-homer game. ... Howard has seven homers this season. ... Dustin McGowan (2-1) is scheduled to start for Toronto on Friday against Garrett Richards (3-0). ... It was the 20,000th game in franchise history for the Phillies. The team played its first game on May 1, 1883, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Providence Grays at Recreation Park. ' ' 'lities of Reo Coker.dddddddddddd Laba is a destroyer. He breaks up the play and gets it going again in an effective manner. The defensive midfield pairing of Reo Coker and Laba could be particularly strong for the Whitecaps this season. Despite my view that the overall squad is better than a year ago, the Whitecaps wont find it easy to achieve their goal of making the playoffs in a Western Conference that is packed with quality. Last year, Vancouver improved on their points total from a year earlier, but didnt make it to the postseason. They improved, but not enough because the other teams around them had made bigger strides. This time around, the Whitecaps have made some significant changes. It might take them time to settle into their new identity, but it should be a fun ride. TSN Soccer analyst Jason deVos weighs in on how the Whitecaps will succeed or fail during the 2014 season. Jason deVos: Vancouver Whitecaps will succeed if… …the young guns come out firing. Rookie head coach Carl Robinson has a squad full of talented youngsters. Russell Teibert, Kekuta Manneh, Gershon Koffie, Omar Salgado, Darren Mattocks, Nicolás Mezquida, Matías Laba, Erik Hurtado, Andre Lewis and Sam Adekugbe are all under the age of 23. With youth comes inconsistency; an amazing performance one week, followed up by a flat one the next. If Robinson can get the young players to find a measure of consistency, the Whitecaps will fare far better than many predict this season. The reason for that is that this team is quick - and I mean, lightning fast. Mattocks, Manneh and Hurtado are whippets, and will win races against virtually every player in MLS. If the experienced players in the squad - Nigel Reo-Coker, Andy OBrien and Jay DeMerit - can shepherd the young players along the right path, the Whitecaps are going to surprise a few people this season. Vancouver Whitecaps will fail if… …they show up one week and not the next. Succeeding in professional soccer is all about finding a level of consistency from week to week. Reliability comes with experience - something that is severely lacking from this squad of players. The onus is on Robinson to set the standards of performance that he expects from all of his players. Experienced campaigners like Reo-Coker, OBrien and DeMerit wont be the issue - they know what they need to do to succeed in the game, and will rarely dip below a 7 out of 10 performance. It is the young players that need to learn this. They need to learn that you cannot turn it on one week, then not bother showing up the next. That will be Robinsons biggest challenge this season - getting a consistent level out of his talented crop of youngsters. If he can do that, this will be an exciting season for Whitecaps fans. If not, the Whitecaps will again fail to make the playoffs. 2013 finish: 13-12-9 (seventh in Western Conference). Did not qualify for MLS Cup playoffs. Whos In?: M Mehdi Ballouchy (Re-Entry Draft), D Steven Beitashour (traded from San Jose), M/F Sebastian Fernandez (loan from Boston River), M Matías Laba (trade from Toronto), M/F Nicolas Mezquida (transfer from Boston River), GK Paolo Tornaghi (signed). Whos Out?: GK Joe Cannon (option declined), M Jun Marques Davidson (option declined), F Tommy Heinemann (option declined), F Corey Hertzog (option declined), D Greg Klazura (option declined), GK Brad Knighton (traded to New England), M Daigo Kobayashi (option declined), D Lee Young-Pyo (retired), D Brad Rusin (option declined), F Camilo Sanvezzo (transfer to Queretaro), GK Simon Thomas (option declined). SuperDraft: D Christian Dean (1-3), MF Andre Lewis (1-7), F Mamadou Diouf (2-30). ' ' '