inst Venus with a forehand winner while serving at 5-4 in the firs

It was, Ben Stokes reasoned, the sort of day when England gained nothing but sunburn.A flat pitch and a strong batting line-up brought home what has been clear for a few weeks: England do not have the tools to win series in these conditions. As Stokes put it: Sometimes youve got to hold your hands up say they played really, really well. As weve known for some time, India are too good for them.Its not that England have played poorly. For fairly lengthy patches of most games - the possible exception being Mohali, where their inadequate first innings made the result almost inevitable from the first evening - they have fought well. But eventually, in most games, the difference in quality between the sides has told.It could happen again here. If England are unable to make inroads in the India batting early on the fourth day - and there is little sign that they will - they are likely to face somewhere around three sessions of batting to ensure they at least save this final match. If the pitch deteriorates - and there is little sign of that, either - that could prove tough.There were some encouraging moments on the third day. There was the wicket of Virat Kohli, dismissed for under 40 for the first time in the series, earned by Stuart Broad bowling round the wicket and producing a leg-cutter that Kohli played a little too early. The figures might not fully reflect it, but Broad has been Englands best seamer by some distance in this series.There was the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara who, Stokes believed, was unsettled by some short-pitched bowling which eventually led to him prodding at a wide one he would normally have left. I think maybe going a bit harder and shorter did make him play a ball he wouldnt necessarily play at most of the time, Stokes said.And there was Jos Buttler, charming a good-natured crowd by encouraging them to mimic him. And if that sounds like scant reason to take cheer, well, it was that sort of day. At least Buttlers humour kept spirits and energy levels high.Englands plans have been thwarted, in part, by their inability to gain reverse swing in this series. While they were able to generate lavish reverse at times in Bangladesh with the Kookaburra ball, they have been unable to gain anything like the same movement with the SG ball used in India. For a team banking on the strength of its seamers, it has been a killer blow.Thats probably been the most surprising thing, especially with how abrasive the surfaces have been, Stokes said. Weve kept the ball in really good condition but they go really soft easily out here compared to the Kookaburra in Bangladesh where we managed to get quite a lot. Its probably been a little bit of a shock we havent managed to find any.It probably pays to reserve judgement on Englands spinners after days like this. It is, after all, a surface on which the worlds top-rated bowler, R Ashwin, claimed 1 for 151. But we have seen enough of Liam Dawson to conclude that his selection has been a qualified success. While he rarely threatened, he was the most economical of Englands trio and, as a consequence, was trusted to more overs on the third day than the others. Without him, India might be close to parity already and England might need to survive for an extra session to salvage a draw.Adil Rashid was frustrating. Several times he beat the bat with sharply turning leg-breaks. On another occasion, he took the glove of Pujara before he scored and might have had him caught had he been given a short-leg. But when a bowler delivers as many release balls as Rashid, it is hard to justify the close fielders instead of protecting the boundaries. On such days, he looks desperately difficult to captain though it is intriguing that his best days on this tour have come when Saqlain Mushtaq has been in attendance as bowling coach. Either side of Saqlains stay, Rashid has been a disappointment.Moeen Ali bowled better. Gaining occasional turn, he appeared more willing to vary his pace and, until a poor final over, at least made the batsmen take a few risks - reverse sweeping or hitting over the top - to progress. But, having taken the only wicket in the morning session, he was taken off after one more over, given just a one-over spell in the afternoon session, and then brought back once the fourth-wicket partnership had taken root. It was puzzling captaincy.Alastair Cook didnt enjoy the best of days. As well as dropping another catch - a decision will have to be made over whether he still belongs in the slips; he is dropping at least as many as he is taking - he looked jaded when chasing balls in the field where his relative lack of energy contrasted with Joe Roots. Indeed, for periods on day two and three, Root has looked the more vocal and demonstrative of the two in the field. We may, perhaps, be witnessing a natural changing of the guard.There is no need for Cook to make an immediate decision over his future. With England not playing another Test until July, he has time to go home, reflect and ask himself if he still has the ambition to drive this team forward. If he is in any doubt over the answer, he should know it is time to quit. Root deserves the chance to settle in to the captaincy well ahead of the Ashes and neither in mid-series or mid-summer.Root has quite enough to worry about already. As if being the key batsman in all three formats is not burden enough - and remember, after an international summer that starts on May 5 and ends of September 29, England face one of the longest tours in recent memory, starting in October and finishing in April - he is also about to become a father. If England over-burden him, they risk both compromising his individual excellence and, perhaps, burn out.Such decisions can wait a few weeks; at least until the end of January. But increasingly Cooks resigned demeanour is contrasting with his young teams vigour. He may just need a break, but you do wonder if he still has the hunger required to deal with days like these.Cheap Adidas Shoes China . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Wholesale Stan Smith . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. http://www.stansmithdiscount.com/discount-ultra-boost-shoes.html . 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After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match.LONDON -- The Williams sisters could be headed for another meeting in a Grand Slam final.Venus Williams made it back to the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in seven years on Tuesday, and defending champion Serena Williams advanced to her 10th final four at the All England Club.Mounting another title run at the age of 36, five-time champion Venus beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-6 (5), 6-2, advancing to the semifinals for the first time since 2009 and first time at any major since the 2010 US Open.I love playing the game, I always have, the eighth-seeded Venus said. When youre winning matches it makes it that much sweeter. I cant lie about that.From 5-2 down in the tiebreaker, she ran off five straight points to take the first set, then rolled through the second set on No. 1 Court. Shes one win away from returning to the Wimbledon final for the first time since 2009, when she lost to Serena.The wins and the losses, they all lead to these big moments, Venus said. You cant always have this big moment. If youre Serena Williams, I guess that happens a lot. As Venus Williams, this is an awesome day.A short while later, Serena beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court, finishing the match with a 123 mph ace to extend her record in Wimbledon quarterfinals to 10-2.Venus will next face No. 4 Angelique Kerber, the Australian Open champion who held off No. 5 Simona Halep 7-5, 7-6 (2) in the first match on Centre Court, a defensive battle that featured 13 breaks of serve, including eight in a row in the first set.Serena will play Elena Vesnina, a 50th-ranked Russian who defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2, becoming the first unseeded womens semifinalist at Wimbledon since 2010.Asked about the possibility of meeting her sister and doubles partner in Saturdays final, Serena smiled.It would be great, she said. Obviously, shes such a tough opponent. But I want her to win so bad -- obviously not in the final if Im there. But, if Im not there, I desperately want her to win.Serena leads 16-11 ovverall and 4-2 at Wimbledon against her sister.dddddddddddd Venus defeated Serena in the 2000 semifinals en route to her first title and again in the 2008 final. Serena has beaten Venus in the 2002, `03 and 09 finals, and in the fourth round last year.Venus Williams, the oldest player in the womens field, has made a remarkable resurgence in her 19th appearance at Wimbledon. She was already the oldest player to advance to a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Martina Navratilova made it this far at Wimbledon in 1994 at the age of 37.Venus, who also won Wimbledon titles in 2001, 05 and 07, has been slowed in recent years by Sjogrens syndrome, a condition that can cause joint pain and saps energy.On Tuesday, Shvedova -- a 96th-ranked player from Kazakhstan contesting her third Grand Slam quarterfinal -- saved a set point against Venus with a forehand winner while serving at 5-4 in the first set. Shvedova then went up 5-2 in the tiebreaker, but stalled as Williams rallied to take command.What a day it was against an opponent who was just on fire, Venus said.Kerber has a 3-2 career edge against Venus, but they havent faced each other since 2014. The German won in straight sets on grass at Wimbledon at the 2012 London Olympics, and captured her first major this year in Australia.Weve had a lot of great matches, she and I. We havent played in a while, Williams said. Clearly, shes had a great year, another great result in the Slam.Serena never faced a break point Tuesday, winning the last three games of each set to extend her record against Pavlyuchenkova to 6-0. She will go into the semifinals with a 4-0 record against Vesnina.Cibulkova seemed to run out of energy after her long fourth-round win, which went to 9-7 in the third set against Agnieszka Radwanska. Her loss to Vesnina means Cibulkova can proceed with her wedding on Saturday -- she had planned to postpone the ceremony had she won Tuesday. ' ' '