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NEW YORK -- Serena Williams has hit a wheelbarrow load of balls into the near and far reaches of Arthur Ashe Stadium following victories over the years, always targeting specific individuals in the crowd. She had never managed to get a ball into the intended hands until Tuesday night, following her dazzling 6-3, 6-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova?in the first round of the US Open.It was that kind of night for Williams.I usually pick someone out, she said of the postmatch ritual after her win. They never, never get the ball. Although today, the first time I picked someone out, the guy actually got the ball. That was exciting.Also exciting: Williams performance as she sallies forth in an attempt to move ahead of Steffi Graf and become the first player in the Open era to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles.The match with Makarova was promoted as a stern test of Williams skill and nerve at a seemingly critical juncture in her career. She turned it into a comprehensive statement of her enduring superiority and verve.Williams display of firepower lit up the night sky in Flushing, Queens. She rained down a dozen aces and so many unreturnable serves that only 44 percent of her deliveries became points. Not bad work for a woman whos been suffering a lack of match play because of a sore right shoulder. In fact, her impressive demonstration was the fruit of a workaround mandated by her tender shoulder. In having to pick her spots rather than blast away, she proved that while speed kills, placement tortures.Williams was particularly pleased because in her prematch practice session, her deliveries were flying like wild geese.I didnt hit them as hard as I normally hit them, she said of the 105 and 110 mph aces. I just went for more placement. I didnt go for the big 120s, just the regular.The regular, devastating, down-the-T and out-wide serves that leave even a doubles expert like Makarova, whos a good returner by definition, feeling as if her shoes had grown roots.This also was one of those matches in which Williams seemed to embrace a game plan with more components than a desire to serve big and let the groundstrokes rip. Williams did most of her damage by opening up the court until she could find Makarovas left-handed forehand, which is as lethal but also as unstable as C-4 explosive. Williams broke down that part of Makarovas game consistently.I definitely feel like Im more tactical now, Williams said. But I still have that raw I dont care what is your best shot, Im just going to play my best shot and lets play tennis attitude. I still have that. But I definitely play with a little more tactics.Thats a champions pride speaking. But Williams turns 35 in September. She has injuries, large and small. They demand concessions, one of which inevitably is a greater reliance on strategy and tactics. She had no pressing need to work a Plan B on Tuesday, but her willingness to do it on a night when her movement was outstanding just made her that much tougher.Its all I could do with a shoulder injury, was movement, she said. I couldnt hit any balls [leading up to the tournament]. I wanted to stay fit, so ... I guess that kind of helped me out a little bit.Williams is a great champion, so she bears great champions burdens. Every question she answers leads to more questions because more is never enough, and in her case never will be until she finally decides to set aside her rackets for good.The question now is, what can she do to keep this up? The great obstacle for players in their waning years is that they lack the intensity and innate drive of youngsters. They come up flat more frequently. Its the most natural process in the world.Williams tries to avoid that pitfall by telling herself how much better she can be. She said, I think I can improve a lot. I think I can get a lot better. I feel like theres much, much more I can do. Thats the only thing I can do is do that.A better Williams than we saw on Tuesday night is nearly unimaginable. But making the unimaginable real has been this womans stock in trade for a long time now. Cheap Tampa Bay Rays Jerseys . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. Cheap Rays Jerseys . 8 Kansas to a 64-63 win over Texas Tech on Tuesday night. The freshman from Vaughan, Ont. http://www.cheapraysjerseys.com/ . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Cheap Wade Boggs Jersey . The phone hearing is scheduled for 4:30pm et/1:30pm pt. Winchester, who was not penalized for the hit, appeared to make contact with Kellys head early in the first period of Thursdays game in Boston. Cheap MLB Jerseys . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. EUGENE, Ore. -- This wasnt a world record for Ashton Eaton. Just a runaway win and another trip to the Olympics.Not bad for a decathlete dealing with an injury.On a tender hamstring and a quadriceps thats given him problems in recent weeks, the defending Olympic champion scored 8,750 points to beat Jeremy Taiwo by 325 at the U.S. Track and Field Trials on Sunday night. Thats well off Eatons world record of 9,045, set at the world championships last summer in Beijing.But consider this: No one in the decathlete field for the Rio Olympics has a personal-best that matches Eatons mark from the trials.Hes simply in a different stratosphere these days. The only person who can compete against him is, well, a computerized model of himself.No, really.Its almost like I make a digital version of myself, try to compete against that, Eaton explained. I had this little mini sub-goal of trying to score 9,000 every decathlon. It would be cool never to go back to (8,000).At the last Olympic trials, also at Hayward Field, Eaton broke the decathlon world record for the first time. Eugene has long been a special place for him. Its where he and his wife, Canadian heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton, met while attending the University of Oregon and rose to prominence.Eaton said he was shooting for the record, but his leg made it impossible.I had the same mindset, Eaton said. I would say the expectations personally and externally were a little bit different.The 28-year-old Eaton was in such control that his coach, Harry Marra, actually told him to run the final event, the 1,500, at a slower pace than normal. No sense putting any extra wear and tear on the leg with the Olympic decathlon in six weeks. He still ran event No. 10 in 4 minutes, 25.15 seconds, which was one of the top times.This meet defines Ashton Eaton way more than his world-record performances. Those were great performances, Marra said. But he had so many obstacles physically. ... He did this with a bum leg.A leg his coach wasnt sure was going to hold up during the 400 on Saaturday.ddddddddddddIt did.A leg Eaton wasnt sure was going to be ready for the 110-meter hurdles on Sunday.It was.And through this competition, Eaton learned a little bit more about himself -- he doesnt have to be super aggressive all the time. Smooth works almost as well.The (overall) reviews were pretty good, Eaton said. As a decathlon, if you dont leave with something frustrated then you should quit, because it was perfect.In command, Eaton even had time to take in some other events. He watched Chaunte Lowe win the high jump by holding hold off teenager Vashti Cunningham, the daughter of longtime NFL quarterback Randall Cunningham. He also caught Jeffery Hendersons win in the mens long jump and Allyson Felixs blistering performance in the 400.Now those were impressive.Its nice to have a front-row seat as a decathlete, on the field and get to see all that stuff, Eaton said. Those kinds of things are inspirational, and you try to learn from it. Sometimes, I try to pick up little things from the specialists.Taiwo had a solid performance to take second, while Zach Ziemek of Wisconsin wound up third. It was an event that was missing Trey Hardee, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist who didnt finish after suffering a left hamstring injury on the first day.Eatons big plans now will be to squeeze in some rest before he and his wife head to Rio. There, Eaton has a chance to make a little history as he tries to defend his title. That hasnt been done in the decathlon since British star Daley Thompson in 1980 and `84.That would be cool, Eaton said. Awesome company to be in. But there are really good competitors.Asked if he might chase after another world record in Rio, Eaton just grinned.The Olympic Games are so much different from anything else, Eaton said. You dont even talk about world records, in a way. If its there at the very end, sure, Ill run to get it. Other than that, its event to event. ' ' '