KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- Serena Williams capitalized on a critical double-fault by Yaroslava Shvedova to survive a 69-minute first set and win her opening match at the Sony Open 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Thursday. "It was an incredibly tough first set," Williams said. "I just needed to relax and yet keep up the intensity." The top-ranked Williams seeks a record seventh Key Biscayne title, and her second in a row. No. 4-seeded Maria Sharapova, a five-time runner-up in the tournament, joined Williams in the third round by beating Kurumi Nara 6-3, 6-4. Seeded players had first-round byes. In mens play, former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt became the third active man to win 600 matches when he rallied past Robin Haase of the Netherlands 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Fellow Australian Bernard Tomic lasted only 28 minutes in the shortest match since the ATP started keeping such records in 1991, losing to Jarkko Nieminen 6-0, 6-1. Tomic, who won just 13 points, is mounting a comeback from surgery on both hips and was playing for the first time since January. "I did the best as I could," he said. "Hopefully in a little bit of time I can get back to 100 per cent." Williams, who owns a small share of the NFLs Miami Dolphins, wore a dress in the teams orange and turquoise colours -- which may explain her slow start. Or maybe it was because she hadnt played since Feb. 21. Williams had to erase a 5-3 deficit in the first set, and then fell behind 6-3 in the tiebreaker. Shvedova pushed a forehand into the net, then the Kazakh hit a nervous double-fault that allowed Williams to exhale. She won the next two points with aces, then closed out the set with a backhand winner, a fist pump and a scream of "Yes!" Her game steadied in the second set, when she had 18 winners and only 10 unforced errors -- bad news perhaps for opponents to come in the tournament Williams considers her hometown event. She lives an hour north in Palm Beach Gardens. "I love playing here," she told the crowd. The 33-year-old Hewitt also staged a comeback. With the victory, he joined Roger Federer (942 wins) and Rafael Nadal (675) in reaching the 600 match milestone. "Not many people get the opportunity to get close to that, so it means I have been around for an awfully long time," Hewitt said. "Im getting old. A few years ago when I had the last couple of surgeries, I probably would have doubted Id get to this stage. Im grateful Im out there and able to compete with the best guys." In other womens play, No. 5-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany won her opening match, beating Peng Shuai of China 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5). Kerber, a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist, matched her best showing at Key Biscayne by reaching the third round. Ana Ivanovic beat American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-1, and No. 8 Petra Kvitova defeated Argentinas Paula Ormaechea 6-3, 6-4. Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2006 champion, lost to Croatian qualifier Donna Vekic 7-6 (5), 7-5. Fridays stadium court schedule features the winners of 34 Grand Slam titles in five matches. The parade of champions will include Federer, Novak Djokovic, Venus Williams, Andy Murray and Li Na playing their opening matches. Nike Air Max Canada Replica . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. Nike Air Max 95 Canada . The day began ominously for the Rangers when star pitcher Yu Darvish was scratched from his scheduled start with stiffness in his neck. Fill-in Scott Baker gave up three hits over six innings and Chris Gimenez hit a tiebreaking two-out RBI single in the sixth off Phil Hughes. http://www.clearanceairmaxcanada.com/air-max-720-canada-sale.html .com) - The Utah Jazz look to put an end to their five-game losing streak when the Denver Nuggets visit Salt Lake City Monday night. Air Max Thea Canada . Browns owner Jimmy Haslam announced the move with Young on Monday during a speech at a Pro Football Hall of Fame luncheon. Nike Air Max 93 Canada . Cox started the season with San Francisco, but was released by the team on Nov. 12 before being signed by Seattle, where he appeared in two games and tallied three tackles before being released on Dec.BASEL, Switzerland -- Canadas Vasek Pospisil reached his third quarterfinal of the season as he knocked out big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-4 Thursday at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament. Pospisil, whose season-ending goal is to improve his ATP Tour ranking enough to qualify for one of the 32 seedings at Januarys Australian Open, dominated Karlovic in 59 minutes. The world No. 40 never faced a break point and limited the big mans threatening ace count to a mere eight, while striking five key aces of his own. "I played really well today and did a lot of things well," Pospisil said. "Im thrilled and very excited over how it went. "My goal going in was obviously to focus on her serve and try to handle it. I was really concentrating even more on the things I could control. It was inevitable that he was going to serve aces, I just had to deal with them." Pospisil, from Vancouver, will next face another Croat, Ivan Dodig, who beat former finalist Kei Nishikori in the second round. PPospisil remains the lone Canadian in the field after Milos Raonic withdrew for personal reasons and Daniel Nestor lost alongside Pospisil in the doubles first round.dddddddddddd Pospisil brought his best came to court from the start against Karlovic, breaking the Croat for 4-2 in the first set and taking it in 28 minutes with a second-serve ace on the first of three set points, The second set went much the same way as Pospisil broke in the seventh game for a 4-3 margin, then converted on a match point three games later. "I served very well," Pospisil said. "Ive been working on a lot of things with my new coach (Frederic Fontang) and the hard work is paying off." Karlovic had beaten Pospisil earlier this year at the post-Wimbledon Newport grass tournament. Vaseks breakout performance this year was reaching the semifinal of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, where he lost to Raonic. Since then, Pospisil had not advanced past the second round in his last six tournaments until Basel. ' ' '