league debut two years later with 53 appearances for Chicago.

TORONTO -- Serena Williams insists its not as easy as it looks. The top-seeded American breezed to her third Rogers Cup title with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea in Sundays final, giving Williams her eighth WTA title of the year and 54th of her career. She didnt drop a set all week at the $2.369-million tournament and lost only 22 games, almost half of which came against third-seed Agnieszka Radwanska in a semifinal match which proved to be the only real test for the world No. 1 in Toronto. With the absence of top-five players Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, and the early exit of Wimbledon champ Marion Bartoli, all due to injury, Williamss path to the title was made considerably less obstructed. But with expectation comes pressure, and Williams proved more than up to the task. "No tournament is ever easy, especially being in the position I am in," said Williams. "The tournament starts and they expect you to win. And the tournament is like, youre going to be in the final and after your semifinal I want you to do this, and you have to do this and this press. Who knows if Ill even make it to the semifinals? "Its a lot of pressure. Its not easy." Williams says she likes where her game it as heading towards the U.S Open, where she is the defending champion, and shell look to use this victory as momentum this week in Cincinnati. Despite only having lost one match since March, a stunning early exit at Wimbledon, Williams says theres still room for improvement. "For me its always about constantly improving and never saying I did great and I can be satisfied," she said. "I did great (today), but what can I do better? What can I improve on? Thats what I always strive for. "When I get satisfied, and for a lot of players, the (playing) level goes down." Cirstea, meanwhile, had a breakthrough tournament, having ousted two former world No. 1s in Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki before dethroning defending champion Petra Kvitova in the quarters, then fourth-seed Li Na of China in the semifinals. She was appearing in only her third WTA final and looking to build on her only title, won way back in 2008 at Tashkent. "For me its been a really positive week and Im going to take everything that well to the next tournament," said Cirstea. Cirstea showed her nerves from the opening game, double faulting the first point and again at 30-40 to give Williams an early break. Williams broke again for 3-0 after Cirstea sent a backhand wide. That prompted a visit from her Australian coach Darren Cahill, who gave the 23-year-old a pep talk. It appeared to work momentarily as Cirstea won four straight points to break back and held serve at 3-2 to get back in the match. But Williams quickly removed any chance of an upset, winning two straight games and acing a set point winner for 6-2. "The start was not as bad as the scored showed," said Cirstea. "The first three games I had really good chances so I could have been up three-love. Suddenly I found myself down three-love. I know the score seems quite tough but there were moments when I felt the match was closer than it seemed." With shouts of "Sorana" and "Serena" volleying back and forth around the stadium like tennis balls, splashes of Romanias blue, yellow and red could be seen dotting the almost-full Rexall Centre stands on a warm, sunny afternoon. "I was surprised to see how many Romanians there were out there and how many flags Ive seen," said Cirstea. "It was an incredible atmosphere and it made me feel like home when they were screaming, supporting me and saying positive things. Im looking forward to coming back here." The vocal contingent cheering on Cirstea didnt have much to go on in the second set. Williams broke out of the gate using her trademark power strokes to keep Cirstea running and ripped a 199 km/h ace to hold serve at 2-0. Cirstea, with her head hanging low, again called over Cahill for motivation, but it did little this time as Williams eased through the final four games and wrapped up the match in just over an hour. Williams gets $426,000 for the win while Cirstea will take home $213,000 -- almost half her prize money earned so far this year. Cirstea teared up during the trophy presentation and graciously expressed her admiration for Williams. "Usually Im quite emotional," said the Romanian. "Of course I was disapointed because I wanted to play better, so its mixed feelings out there. I think even if I won today I would still be crying." All three of Williamss Rogers Cup titles have come in Toronto, the first in 2001 before winning it again in 2011. She says she loves playing in this city because of the friends who come out to see her play. Local hip-hop star Drake, who was also present for her 2011 win, sat courtside and cheered on Williams. "Were really good friends," said Williams, "I was excited that he made it today." In the doubles final, Jankovic and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia won 5-7, 6-2, 10-6 over Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Czech Kveta Peschke. Custom Jerseys China . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Cheap Custom Jerseys Online . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. http://www.customjerseysnfl.com/ . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Custom Nike Jerseys . P.A. Parenteau scored early in the third period to help the Avs edge Toronto 2-1 on Tuesday night. Cory Sarich also scored for Colorado (3-0-0), which is off to its best ever start. Wholesale Custom NFL Jerseys . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Right-hander Andrew Cashner is going home for a spot in the Texas Rangers rotation.A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Friday that the free agent pitcher and the team had reached an agreement on a $10 million, one-year deal. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal was pending a physical and wasnt finalized, and the AL West champions had not made an official announcement.Cashner, a Texas native who was a first-round draft pick out of TCU in 2008, finished last season with the Miami Marlins after the San Diego Padres traded him July 29. He was 5-11 with a 5.25 ERA in 28 games last season.Texas had inquired about Cashner before the non-waiver trading deadline last summer, and had previously been interested in him.The 30-year-old Cashner will join a Rangers rotation thats led by aces Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish, and includes Martin Perez.After a standout career at TCU, about 20 miles from the Rangers ballpark, Cashner was drafted 19th overall by the Cubs in 2008. He made his major league debut two years later with 53 appearances for Chicago. The Cubs traded him to San Diego after the 2011 season, in the deal that sent first baseman Anthony Rizzo to Chicago, and Cashneer eventually became a starter for the Padres.ddddddddddddCashner has a 31-53 record with a 3.89 ERA in 202 career games. He has started 103 of his last 104 games since making five relief appearances for San Diego the first month of the 2013 season.Texas earlier this month declined its $11 million option for left-handed starter Derek Holland, instead electing a $1.5 million buyout and making him a free agent. The 30-year-old Holland was part of Texas only two World Series teams in 2010 and 2011, but missed significant time because of injuries the past three seasons.Game notes The Rangers received RHP Tyler Wagner on waiver claim from the Arizona Diamondbacks. The 25-year-old Wagner spent most of the 2016 season on the disabled list at Triple-A Reno with a strained right lat muscle. He made three relief appearances for Arizona in April. ... Texas purchased the contract of 1B Ronald Guzman from Triple-A Round Rock, a move that protects him from the Rule 5 draft during the winter meetings next month. ... Right-handed pitcher Adrian Sampson was assigned outright to Double-A Round Rock. ' ' '