point on 26 of her 32 trips to the net.Not bad for someone who entered the U.S. Open with questions about a sore right shoulder that began bothering her after she won Wimbledon in July.I dont really like coming to the net, to be honest, but Im good at the net, I guess, Williams said. I guess Ive got t

Did you know Hunter Pence was a big Harry Potter fan? Find out what else the San Francisco Giants outfielder thinks about his teammates, the media and performance-enhancing drugs in the latest Burning Questions.Who was your favorite player growing up? Pence:?I had several. I liked the fast guys. Rickey Henderson, Kenny Lofton, Devon White. And Jim Thome -- he was the one non-fast guy.Who is your favorite player to watch today -- not a teammate? Pence:?Shoot, theres a lot of really good players. I like [Josh] Donaldson. Hes so powerful. Hes just such a good hitter. Hes got power to all fields. Hes got speed. He makes crazy defensive plays.Who is your most underrated teammate? Pence:?Aw, man. All of em. Theyre all underrated. Theyre all way better than people realize. Except for me.Whats the most annoying question you are asked by the media?Pence:?None of em. Every question is important because its important to that reporter. Really, were kind of like poets. We just gotta write a story, because you saw what happened. When yall come in and ask us, we just gotta re-explain something that happened that we cant really explain. So were just storytellers.One rule you would change? Pence:?I think its pretty good the way it is. I like the way they have it. I dont want them to change the strike zone. I think they should keep the strike zone the way it is. Im not so happy about all the clocks. Its weird. They want to speed up the game, but then they want more offense. A lot of the drama is in the time in between, the thinking and the process and the chess match. So theres a lot of that buildup that, if youre rushing the game, you dont get the magnificence. I understand the time in between innings, but between pitches and stuff, theres a lot of process, especially in big moments. Theres something special about the time in between.Who is ultimately responsible for policing the game? Players, manager, umpires, the league? Pence:?All of the above. Little bit of everything. I just let it police itself. I dont try to do any policing. Just play the game and not worry about how anybody else is playing the game. Just worry about competing to win.How big of a problem are PEDs in todays game? Pence:?I think weve progressed a lot. Theres a tremendous amount of testing, and Im all for it. The more testing, the merrier. Keep it clean. Its good for the health of all of us. Im very grateful that theyre doing that.What is something that people dont know about you or have wrong about you? Pence:?I enjoy Harry Potter, card games and all that stuff. Magic gathering, Dungeons & Dragons. I love the imagination. I prefer the Potter movies over the book because most of my reading is self-help stuff, like psychology and philosophy and all that stuff. But we did buy the new book. My favorite movie scene is when Voldemort and Dumbledore battle. I dont remember which one its in, but that was my favorite scene by far.Cheap Jets Jerseys China .C. -- Todd Fiddler scored a hat trick, including the overtime goal, as the Prince George Cougars survived an 8-7 win against the Kamloops Blazers in Western Hockey League play Sunday. Cheap Winnipeg Jets Jerseys . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. http://www.cheapwinnipegjetsjerseys.com/ . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. Cheap Jets Jerseys . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Cheap Adidas Jets Jerseys . But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach.NEW YORK -- Serena Williams serve was broken for the first time at this years U.S. Open. Twice, in fact. She dropped a set for the first time in the tournament, too, pushed to the brink by Simona Halep in the quarterfinals.In a match filled with fantastic shotmaking and enthralling exchanges, neither player budged until Williams righted herself in the third set to emerge with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Halep on Wednesday night to get back to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows.The No. 5 Halep, the 2014 French Open runner-up, was the first seeded player Williams faced in the draw.Im glad I got tested, Williams said. Her level really picked up in the second, but I had some opportunities that I didnt take. So what I gather from that is I really could have played better in that second set and maybe had an opportunity to win in straights. If anything, thats the biggest silver lining I take.Halep staved off all 12 break points held by Williams in the second set and forced a third.I wasnt very happy about that, but I tried not to let that get me down, Williams said about all the chances she let slip away. I tried to stay positive and I knew that if I did, I could just stay in the match.Right at the start of the third set, Halep held two break points at 15-40, but Williams came through to lead 1-0. Otherwise, Halep said, The story of the match would have been different.Instead, Williams converted the only break chance she would get -- or need -- in the deciding set to go ahead 3-1, and was on her way.She finished with 18 aces, a 50-20 edge in total winners, and won the point on 26 of her 32 trips to the net.Not bad for someone who entered the U.S. Open with questions about a sore right shoulder that began bothering her after she won Wimbledon in July.I dont really like coming to the net, to be honest, but Im good at the net, I guess, Williams said. I guess Ive got to do what Im good at.She is bidding for her seventh title at Flushing Meadows and 23rd overall at a major tournament -- both would be records for the Open era, which dates too 1968.dddddddddddd.A year ago in the semifinals, Williams attempt to finish off a calendar-year Grand Slam ended with a stunning loss to unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy.Her opponent Thursday will be 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who beat the 34-year-old Americans older sister, Venus, in the fourth round, then eliminated 18-year-old Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the first major semifinal of her career.As good as Williams serve is, its Pliskova who leads the tour in aces in 2016.Williams, seeded No. 1, had held serve in 37 consecutive games over the past two weeks until Halep broke to get within 3-2 in the opening set. Still, Williams breezed through the rest of that set.Then came a pivotal segment of the second. Instead of trailing 3-0, which was nearly the case, Halep wound up ahead 3-1.First, she hung in there to erase seven break points -- yes, 7! -- in one game to hold for 1-all. Then she got to 15-40 on Williams serve, creating two break points that Williams made vanish with three aces in a row, at 117, 109 and 122 mph.Escape complete? Not quite. Then came two more break points, the last created by a huge Halep backhand that Williams tried in vain to get back with a desperation lefty shot. Williams second double-fault of the game followed, and Halep would need to save five more break points before finally cashing in on her fifth set point to send the match to set No. 3.Thats where Williams once again asserted herself, as she so often does.It was tough. Is tough, Halep said. Im a little bit sad.In Thursdays other semifinal, No. 2 Angelique Kerber plays two-time U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki. Kerber has a chance to end Williams record-tying string of 186 consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the WTA rankings.As Halep can attest, though, Williams does not relinquish anything easily.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '