MELBOURNE, Australia -- Venus and Serena Williams have withdrawn from the doubles competition at the Australian Open, shortly before their first-round match was scheduled to be played on Friday. Tournament officials said the sisters pulled out because of an injury to Venus lower left leg. The announcement came shortly after Serena Williams, a five-time singles champion in Australia, won her third-round singles match against Daniela Hantuchova in temperatures of almost 40C (104F). The Williams sisters have combined for 13 career Grand Slam doubles titles. They were unseeded at Melbourne Park after only playing four tournaments together last year. Colin Wilson Avalanche Jersey .C. -- Al Jefferson knows few people will be giving the Charlotte Bobcats a chance to upset the Miami Heat in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Patrick Roy Avalanche Jersey . Knapp defeated American Alison Riske 6-3, 7-5 to secure Italys victory in the best-of-five series. She held a 5-2 lead in the second set, only to let Riske tie it at five. http://www.hockeyavalanche.com/authentic...che-jersey/.com) - Guess whos back, back again? Josh Gordons back, tell a friend. J.T. Compher Jersey .ca. Kerry, In the closing minutes of the second period of Game 4 between Pittsburgh and Columbus there were the remnants of two broken sticks behind the Pittsburgh net. Mikko Rantanen Jersey . Nix is a career .218 hitter in 425 games over six seasons. The 31-year-old right-handed hitter batted .270 with a homer this spring for Tampa Bay.The Winnipeg Goldeyes have assured themselves a winning record on this behemoth 10-game road trip to start the season. A clutch seventh inning pushed the Goldeyes (6-3) past the Lincoln Saltdogs (4-5) 7-4 Saturday night at Haymarket Park in Lincoln before 4,222 spectators. After the two sides exchanged a pair of runs in the second inning, Lincoln grabbed a 4-2 lead with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Goldeyes quickly struck back in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game once again, as left fielder Ray Sadler scored on a ground out by third baseman Josh Mazzola and right fielder Donnie Webb belted the next pitch out of the park for his first home run of the season. For the second straight night, Winnipeg found the winning run in the seventh inning. With Sadler on third and centre fielder Reggie Abercrombie on second, Mazzola singled to score both base runners. "Youre just trying to get the ball in play and find a hole out there," Goldeyes pitching coach Jamie Vermilyea said on the Jewel 101 post-game game show of Mazzolas at-bat. "He battled up there and fouled off a couple tough pitches before he got one he could handle. It was a big AB."Mazzola then stole second – his league-leading siixth stolen base of the season – and scored on a single by Webb.dddddddddddd"Anytime you can take advantage of that and steal that extra base is big," Vermilyea said. "Thats part of our thing this year. Were going to be aggressive on the base paths." After starter Nick Hernandez went five innings for Winnipeg, the Goldeyes bullpen was spectacular in the second half of the game. Southpaw Gabe Aguilar struck out five Saltdogs in 2 2/3 innings of middle relief work. Fellow lefty Brendan Lafferty got the final out of the eighth inning and Chris Kissock pitched the ninth for his second consecutive save in as many nights. The pitching staff combined for a season-high 12 strikeouts. Aguilar picked up the win, while Lincoln reliever Jake Meiers, who was on the hook for the three runs in the seventh inning, suffered the loss. Four Goldeyes had multi-hit nights, while Mazzola had three RBI. The two sides will meet in the series finale Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Lefty Chris Salamida will look for his first win of the season against Nick Green, who will make his first start of the season for Lincoln. The Goldeyes return home on Monday for their home opener against the Sioux City Explorers. ' ' '