of confidence in the former IOC vice-presidents abilities from the orga

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Perhaps it was the 25 mph winds. Or the slower-than-expected hard courts. Or maybe simply that Serena Williams hadnt played a match in a month.Whatever the cause, Williams opened defense of her Olympic singles gold medal with a patchy-at-times 6-4, 6-2 victory over Australias Daria Gavrilova on Sunday, gesturing or yelling at herself as she often does when not all goes her way.Im always frustrated on the court if its not perfect, the American said.Williams had not competed since collecting her Open-era record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title at Wimbledon. Shes now won 19 of her past 20 matches.Seeded No. 1 at the Rio de Janeiro Games, Williams was hardly at her best in the 91-minute contest against Gavrilova, who is ranked 46th and only once has been past the second round at a major tournament.While that match was played in the main stadium, action was delayed because of strong winds for about 2 hours on the eight smaller Olympic courts.I was a little nervous about that, Williams said of her reaction to hearing of the gusty conditions, which she called very intense.Williams compiled 37 unforced errors to 27 winners, and got broken at love while serving for the first set at 5-3, a game that included a tremendously entertaining point.The lengthy exchange featured terrific defense by both women and ended with Williams putting a forehand into the net. Afterward, she leaned over near the net, while Gavrilova dropped to her knees on the court, letting go of her racket.But Williams broke right back in the next game to take the set.The first set, especially, was extremely tricky, Williams said, referring to the wind, but Im glad it kind of slowed down in the second a little bit, so I was able to produce better tennis.Players have noticed that the green courts in Rio play slower and offer higher bounces than hard courts used on the North American circuit leading to the U.S. Open later this month.Fortunately enough, I am a pretty good clay-court player, so Im OK with the slow courts, said Williams, a three-time French Open champion. You have to hit about three or four more shots or just play a little bit better. Its OK. Im getting used to the conditions as a whole.Later Sunday, Williams and her older sister Venus lost an Olympic doubles match for the first time. They are three-time gold medalists as a team, and entered this match with a 15-0 record at the Olympics, but were beaten 6-3, 6-4 by the Czech Republics Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova.On Saturday night, Venus availability for doubles was put in doubt by U.S. womens tennis coach Mary Joe Fernandez, who said the four-time gold medalist and seven-time Grand Slam champion had cramping, dehydration and an upset stomach following a first-round loss in singles.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrichLos Angeles Lakers Pro Shop . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. Los Angeles Lakers Shirts . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. https://www.lakersjerseycheap.com/ . PETERSBURG, Fla. Los Angeles Lakers Gear . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. Lakers Jerseys 2020 . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss.Sir Craig Reedie has been confirmed as WADA President for a second three-year term.The 75-year-old was determined to continue as president of the World Anti-Doping Agency despite being caught in the middle of bitter row between the Olympic movement and the anti-doping community. Watch NOW TV Catch all the excitement of Sky Sports for just ￡6.99. No contract Reedie was re-elected unopposed, having received the International Olympic Committees backing earlier this month - an apparent vote of confidence in the former IOC vice-presidents abilities from the organisation that provides half of WADAs £24m annual budget. At a meeting of Olympic nations in Doha last week, WADA President Sir Craig Reedie came under sustained criticism from officials critical of WADAs recommendation that Russia be banned from the Games. IOC President Thomas Bach says he is only interested in clean athletics The issue has opened a rift between those responsible for catching the cheats and sports organisations which have to both promote and police their own events.ddddddddddddOC president Thomas Bach claimed in Doha that the organisations decision not to ban all Russian athletes was not political but in the interests of clean athletes.Reedie said: It makes no sense to walk away now. The situation needs to be resolved and it will be resolved.I took this on expecting to serve two terms. OK, nobody imagined we would be spending two years dealing with Russia but that is where we are at. Yuliya Stepanova blew the whistle on widespread doping in Russian athletics It might not look like it but we are making real progress now. I am not walking away.Evidence of Russias cheating came to light in two WADA-sponsored reports, the first published in November 2015 and the second in July, three weeks before the start of the Rio Games. The latter, written by Canadian legal expert Richard McLaren, was an interim version with the final take coming next month.Also See:Bach defends Russia stanceWADA chief on defensiveWADA defends report timingIOC calls for unity ' ' '