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VAL DISERE, France -- Two-time defending World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher limited his celebrations Saturday after dominating the treacherous Stade Olympique de Bellevarde course to win a giant slalom race. The Austrian produced a superb second run to win his third career giant slalom race and fourth overall at Val dIsere. However, Hirscher was disappointed that Ted Ligety did not finish. The American, seeking his fourth straight win in GS, made an uncharacteristic technical error and was among several racers to ski out and failed to qualify for the second run for the first time in nearly five years. Hirscher would prefer to measure his performance against Ligetys to see where he stands in GS terms. "Its a great victory for sure. But we dont know where we really are right now," Hirscher said. "Was it a really good run from us or is Ted skiing better than the rest of the world right now? Thats the question." It was Hirschers second win of the season after his slalom victory at Levi, Finland, and fourth podium from five races so far. His Val dIsere record is superb, and he will go for his eighth career podium at the French Alpine resort in Sundays slalom. "Im not the heaviest, largest guy in the World Cup. For me its easier to get the speed if its steep," Hirscher said. "I think its the steepest of the World Cup tour. I dont think Ive ever skied really bad here." With little snowfall in the past couple of weeks, the course was even more difficult. "It was definitely the toughest slope preparation Val dIsere has ever done," Hirscher said. "Normally it is a bit colder and the slope is not injected with so much water, so it is a kind of ice skating place." Hirscher was third after the first run, 0.41 seconds behind Frenchman Alexis Pinturault, but finished 0.76 seconds ahead of Thomas Fanara of France and 1.09 clear of Germanys Stefan Luitz. The Bellevarde course lived up to its tough reputation as Ligety, Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal and Bode Miller of the United States failed to finish their first runs. Miller got his skis tangled near the bottom and tumbled over. U.S. mens head coach Sasha Rearick said Miller was unlucky. "Today he got his outside ski caught right at the initiation of the turn in the flat light. Those things can kind of happen," Rearick said. "I was proud of the effort he put in today and the way he approached the hill." Both Miller and Ligety will take part in Sundays slalom. "Looking forward to it," Rearick said. "Get some revenge on Val dIsere." The 24-year-old Hirscher won the same race at Val dIsere last year and also finished third in the slalom. "I have to train pretty early in the morning," he said. "I know exactly what I have to do tomorrow. Im looking forward to it." His winning margin would have been even larger, but he made a slight error halfway down as he veered to the left before managing to straighten his skis. The pressure was on Pinturault to respond and he started well enough, .28 back on first split, but lost speed at the bottom to finish fourth. Ligety won the GS at Soelden, Austria, and Beaver Creek, Colorado but ended up missing a gate turning in from the left side, going down on his hip and out of a first run for the first time since February 2009 at Sestriere, Italy. "Its been a few years. But Ive had a bunch of races where (on) second runs I went out," the 29-year-old Ligety said. "Just a little bit (of) bad luck on my part today." The four-time defending World Cup GS champion does not count the Bellevarde among his favourite courses. "Its always super, super bumpy and miserable to ski so I wasnt surprised by that at all," Ligety said. Svindal, an Olympic bronze medallist in the discipline, lost his balance approaching a gate from the right, missed the next gate and almost toppled over as his right foot lifted off the ground. Both of Luitzs World Cup podiums have been at Val dIsere. The 21-year-old German was second last year, before facing a cruciate knee ligament injury in February. "To be on the podium 10 months after an operation is unexpected, its a great comeback," Luitz said. Cheap San Francisco 49ers Jerseys .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. Cheap Custom China Jerseys . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. http://www.authenticchinajerseysnfl.com/ . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. Cheap Anaheim Ducks Jerseys . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. The move also reunites with him with head coach Dallas Eakins from their time together with the American Hockey Leagues Toronto Marlies. Cheap Los Angeles Dodgers Jerseys . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf.NEW YORK -- Andy Murray chuckled as he explained the very best part about owning a pair of Grand Slam titles, one from the U.S. Open last year, the other from Wimbledon last month. No more of those nagging, oft-repeated queries -- the ones he heard over and over and over again. "Not too much for me has changed. But the one thing thats been nice is that, literally for five or six years, I did a press conference before every tournament and after every single match, and I got asked that question, Id say, 90 per cent of the time: Why have you never won Wimbledon? When are you going to win Wimbledon? Why have you not won a Grand Slam?" Murray said in an interview with The Associated Press. "So thats the thing that, for me, has been the nicest: Not having to answer that question," he added, standing outside the locker rooms at Arthur Ashe Stadium, not far from the oversized colour picture and silver plaque that commemorate his 2012 victory at Flushing Meadows. "I can just play tennis now and not have to worry about that anymore." Thats right. When the years last major tennis tournament begins on the U.S. Opens blue hard courts Monday, Murray will have other concerns. For example: What might it feel like to defend a Grand Slam championship? Thats something hes never tried to do before, of course. Or how many of these can he win? Or, really, will he even be able to win one more? Yes, for a guy who has accomplished so much over the past 13 months, redefining his career and place in the game, Murray still sounds very much like someone harbouring quite a bit of uncertainty. His success at the U.S. Open in 2012 did, after all, make him the first British man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam title. His success at Wimbledon in July, as everyone knows by now, made him the first British man since Perry 77 years ago to earn the singles trophy at the All England Club. Toss in a London Olympics gold medal, and its been quite a run. "Hes turned into a great player. Hes always been a good hitter of the ball, been a great mover. I think mentally hes a bit better now," 14-time major champion Pete Sampras said recently. "Now he feels like he belongs." Maybe. But Murray also remembers what came before. He remembers -- and, much to his chagrin, there was a time when he frequently was reminded of it by others -- that he lost each of the first four Grand Slam finals he reached. "I know how long it took me to win one and how hard it is to win them. I know its possible I may not win another one," the 26-year-old from Scotland said, his tone and facial expression earnest. "So I just want to keep trying to put myself in position to win Grand Slams and hopefully I can do the same again here." Indeed, Murray anticipates some shakiness at the start of the U.S. Open. Instead of declaring that he will step on court with the bravado of a defending champion, Murray wonders whether his play might be affected in a bad way at the outset of this U.S. Open because of what happened a year ago. "Depending on how the tournament goes, at the start of the tournament, I expect to be pretty nervous and feel maybe more pressure than I have in some years," he said. "But then I would hope, if I can do well and get tthrough the first few rounds, that it would actually give me confidence.dddddddddddd Once I get myself into the tournament, I may calm down and actually start feeling more confident that I can win the event. Whereas before, it might have actually been the opposite. I might have felt OK at the start, and when I got closer to the end of the tournament, felt more pressure and more nerves and less confidence." The 2012 womens champion, Serena Williams, owns 16 Grand Slam titles, four at the U.S. Open. Usually when she loses at a major tournament, the sting sticks around for a while. That was the case with this years Wimbledon, where her 34-match winning streak surprisingly ended with a fourth-round exit. "I was obviously bothered. I wanted to do better. I was disappointed. Im still disappointed," Williams said, 7 1/2 weeks after that setback. "But I had opportunities and I didnt take them in the match. I have to realize that I have to just be better and learn from the experience. Its not the end of the world. I can always do better and keep growing." Asked what advice she might offer Murray about attempting to repeat as champion at a Grand Slam tournament, the No. 1-seeded Williams said: "For me, its not about defending. Its about: This is the U.S Open. I want to try to win this title. Last year was last year. Now its time to try to have fun this year. Thats how I look at it." Murray is seeded No. 3, and the expectation is that he or one of the men ahead of him, No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Rafael Nadal, will hold the trophy after the final, which is scheduled for Sept. 9. Its the first time since 1954 that the tournament is supposed to end on a Monday (the mens final was played on a Monday each of the past five years, but that was because of rain delays). That trio divvied up the seasons first three Grand Slam titles, with Djokovic winning his fourth at the Australian Open, and Nadal his eighth at the French Open. They also have split the past three U.S. Open titles (Nadal won in 2010, Djokovic in 2011). Another past U.S. Open champion, Roger Federer, is seeded only No. 7 this time, his lowest spot in New York since 2002. Federer is coming off a second-round loss at Wimbledon, ending his record run of 36 consecutive major quarterfinal appearances. Another streak remains intact, though: The U.S. Open will be Federers 56th Grand Slam tournament in a row, tying the mens record. Federer turned 32 this month, and hes dealt with a bothersome back and a brief experiment with a different racket, while losing matches to a couple of guys ranked outside the top 100. Any chance he could add to his 17 Grand Slam trophies? "At this stage," said John McEnroe, a seven-time major champion and ESPN analyst, "its going to be quite, quite difficult for him to win another one." A photograph of Federer hangs in a hall near the Arthur Ashe Stadium locker rooms, staring right at Murrays poster across the way. The big difference: Federer won the U.S. Open five times, every year from 2004-08. "I came here for the first time when I was 15. You walk down these corridors, and you look at all the great players who have played here," Murray said. "To be up on the wall next to them is a nice feeling." Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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