NEU » Night Wars produced some incredibly compelling television during

Mason, OH (Sports Network) - Ninth seed Angelique Kerber of Germany rallied to win her first-round match and American Venus Williams breezed into the second round Monday at the $2.369 million Western & Southern Open tennis event. Kerber, last years finalist, disposed of Italian Karin Knapp, 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 6-1. Williams, playing in only her second event since a first-round loss at the French Open, carved up a 6-4, 6-1 victory against Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova. Williams has been hampered by a low back injury this year, but she moved into round two in a swift 66 minutes. Former U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur posted a first-round victory. The 11th-seeded Aussie got past former top-five Russian star and fellow former U.S. Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 7-5, on the hardcourts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Stosur was a hardcourt titlist in Carlsbad, Calif., two weeks ago. Italian Roberta Vinci, the No. 12 seed, ousted American wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Meanwhile, 16th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko outlasted Georgian qualifier Anna Tatishvili, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4). In action involving Americans on Day 1, Sloane Stephens held off Croatian qualifier Petra Martic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, qualifier Vania King topped Frances Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4, and wild card Lauren Davis surprised Czech veteran Klara Zakopalova 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-1). Stephens is rewarded with a second-rounder against 2011 champion, 2010 runner-up and former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, while King will meet former top-ranked star Victoria Azarenka in her next outing. Also advancing were qualifiers Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, Russian Alisa Kleybanova and Romanian Simona Halep, who has won three WTA titles since mid June. Up next for Halep will be Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli. This weeks top seed is last weeks Toronto titlist, Serena Williams, whos also the reigning U.S. and French Open champ. Chinas Li Na beat Kerber in last years Western & Southern finale. Li will meet Davis in the round of 32 here. This weeks winner will earn $426,000. The tournament is part of the U.S. Open Series, or the North American hardcourt events that lead up to the U.S. Open, which will commence August 26. Wholesale Vans For Sale . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Air Force 1 Wholesale China . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. http://www.outletsneakersclearance.com/fake-adidas-nmd.html .ca. Hey Kerry, big fan of yours, just finished reading your book. I think that we all saw the Canucks/Flames line brawl just after puck drop. It was obvious that something was about to happen, even to the referees because the fourth lines were on to start. Air Force 1 Outlet Clearance .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Air Max Plus Clearance . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. Ahead of this weekends Survivor Series, were taking a look at five of the most memorable moments in Survivor Series history.Moment 3:? WWE Reigns Supreme,? 2001 Survivor Series (Nov. 18, 2001) The Monday Night Wars produced some incredibly compelling television during its nearly six-year run as Monday Night Raw and Monday Nitro went head-to-head. The two companies battled week after week to gain ratings advantages over the other. Each brand had extended periods where they would hold the top spot, creating the most tumultuous time in professional wrestling.The competition officially came to an end -- or so we thought -- when Vince McMahon bought out his adversary, purchasing WCW on March 23, 2001.In an attempt to capitalize on the popular era, the Monday Night Wars were incorporated into a storyline pitting WCW and ECW -- the Alliance -- against the WWE. The story unfolded with Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman leading the Alliance to challenge Vince McMahons WWE for dominance. It sounded great on paper, esspecially given the enthralling nature of the real Monday Night Wars, but it fell a bit flat.ddddddddddddHowever, while the four month long program never really caught fire, the feuds culmination at the 2001 Survivor Series was blazing hot.The match saw Team Alliance: Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Shane McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin take on Team WWE: The Rock, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Kane and the Big Show. It was everything that the entire program should have been: dramatic, intense and with a little twist at the end that allowed the WWEs real-life victory to be played out on television. Its tough to go wrong when 10 of the most talented performers on the roster go at it for 45 minutes. When you add on the highly entertaining bickering between Jim Ross and Paul Heyman on commentary, the end result was one of the more satisfying traditional Survivor Series matches in history. ' ' '