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MELBOURNE, Australia - Top-seeded Serena Williams will play Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium in the first round of the Australian Open as she begins her attempt to win a 19th Grand Slam singles title.Williams could meet former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals and Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the semifinals following Fridays draw. The season-opening major begins Monday at Melbourne Park.In the other half, second-seeded Maria Sharapova, who plays a qualifier in the first round, could meet Eugenie Bouchard in the quarterfinals and Ana Ivanovic, whom she beat in the Brisbane International final last weekend, in the semis.Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka, unseeded after an injury-hit 2014, will take on American Sloane Stephens in the first round in a rematch of their acrimonious semifinal two years ago when Azarenka left the court for a medical time out and Stephens questioned her reasons for doing so.Stephens had beaten Williams in the quarterfinals the same year.In the mens draw, No. 2 Roger Federer and No. 3 Rafael Nadal were drawn into the same half. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and defending champion Stan Wawrinka are in the other half of the draw.Djokovic drew a qualifier in the first round and Federer, who recently won his 1,000th career match when he beat Milos Raonic in the Brisbane International final, will play Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan. Djokovic and Raonic, who also will open against a qualifier, are in the same quarter of the draw.Federer could meet sixth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain, who plays a qualifier in the first round, in the quarterfinals. The 17-time Grand Slam winner also has Baby Fed, No. 10-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, in his quarter.Nadal, still recovering from appendix surgery he underwent in November, has a tough first-round match against former top 10-player Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.Youzhny is a tough rival who knows how to play good in important matches, Nadal said Friday.Its normal that every match is dangerous when you are in good shape. Imagine when you are not playing matches in a row, when you have only played four matches for the last 6-7 months. Every match is really dangerous, anything can happen.Wawrinka will begin his title defence against Marsel Ilhan of Turkey.Starting the year with a Grand Slam and finishing with the Davis Cup, it was an incredible 2014, Wawrinka said as he and Li Na, the 2014 Australian Open womens champion who retired in September, delivered the trophies to the draw location outside the newly refurbished Margaret Court Arena.Wawrinka and Federer were part of the Swiss team that beat France in the Davis Cup final in November, the countrys first win in the competition.U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan also will play a former top 10 player, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, in the opening round. Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champion on the comeback from a left wrist injury, will open against Jerzy Janowic, who helped Poland win the Hopman Cup last week.Former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, contesting his 19th consecutive Australian Open, will meet Chinese wild-card entry Zhang Ze.Li, who called it quits after four knee operations, said her plans are to open a tennis academy in China and to start a family.___Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker contributed to this story. Andre Dillard Jersey ., will experience this week. A year in which the Canadian curling championship has been pushed forward a week to accommodate the Winter Olympics was deemed the perfect chance to stage the event in Montreal for the first time since 1979. 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Jake Arrieta (7-3) gave up three runs on five hits over six innings to pick up the win.TORONTO -- For the second time in as many games, a big fourth quarter saved the day for Canada. While Brady Heslip broke the game open in Thursdays victory over Jamaica, Andy Rautins got in on the action Saturday, scoring eight of his 11 points in the final quarter. Rautins came up big as Canada stormed back from a 17-point deficit to defeat Jamaica 77-72 and complete a sweep of the Jack Donohue International Classic. "As a leader on the team, as an older veteran a guy on the team, thats the role I need to play," Rautins said. "To bring that energy, to bring that shooting. Thats what we did tonight and we gutted it out and got a great win." Desperate for scoring in the fourth quarter, head coach Jay Triano paired Rautins with Brady Heslip in hopes of stretching the floor with two shooters in the lineup. It paid off. "Andys a scorer and we needed points," Triano said. "We had planned before this game on not playing him in the first half, we needed to look at other guys, but in the second half we knew that if they played zone wed need those two guys." Playing without Samardo Samuels, who missed the game with a tweaked hamstring, Jamaica looked like a different team than Thursdays iteration. The visitors connected from beyond the arc early and exposed Canadas lack of shooters on the floor. Leading 26-25 after the opening quarter, Jamaica stretched its lead to 49-37 at the half after making eight of 11 attempts from deep before halftime. "I give them a lot of credit, they shot the ball extremely welll in the first half," Triano said.dddddddddddd "Our defence held them to nine 1/8points 3/8 in the fourth quarter. We clamped down at the end when we had to and thats what were trying to do, we just need to do it from the beginning of the game." Veterans Levon Kendall and Jermaine Anderson helped Canada trim the deficit to nine at the end of three quarters. Thompson, who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers and was named player of the game, scored his 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting. He also had 10 rebounds. "Its huge," Rautins said of Thompsons impact. "Offensive rebounding is huge for him. Its what he does. He makes a lot of money doing that. Were going to need him to do that for us game in and game out. Hes done a great job of improving his hook game. Even switching to his right hand, hes still knocking down shots." The game was intense from the opening tip and players let the officials know their thoughts on the non-calls as the game wore on. While it is an adjustment for NBA players like Thompson, Cory Joseph and Andrew Nicholson to get used to the officiating in the international game, veterans with experience abroad spent their time on the sidelines encouraging their teammates from the bench. "Having played in the NBA, having played overseas, its like a different world," Rautins explained. "The international game, its like another world. Its almost like a rugby match out there." Patrick Ewing Jr. led the way for Jamaica, scoring a game-high 20 points in the loss. ' ' '