NEW YORK -- A year after one of the most significant and stunning losses of Serena Williams illustrious career, shes made it back to the same stage of the same tournament: the U.S. Open semifinals.The stakes and opponent are different. Once again, there is history in the offing.At Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2015, two wins shy of completing the first calendar-year Grand Slam in more than a quarter-century, Williams was upset in three sets by unseeded Roberta Vinci of Italy. At Ashe on Thursday night, two wins shy of claiming a record 23rd major singles title and earning a record 187th consecutive week at No. 1 in the WTA rankings, Williams faces 10th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.Vinci never had participated in a Grand Slam singles semifinal. Neither has Pliskova, who hadnt even been past the third round at major until now.The 24-year-old Pliskova grew up watching the Williams sisters play on TV and she already eliminated one in this tournament, beating Venus in a third-set tiebreaker after saving a match point in the fourth round.Asked whether she expected to get some advice from her sibling before facing Pliskova, the younger Williams said: Im sure she will tell me something. But Ill be there. Ill be ready tomorrow.Pliskova will be trying to become only the fourth woman to beat both Williams sisters at the same major, joining Martina Hingis at the 2001 Australian Open, Justine Henin at the 2007 U.S. Open, and Kim Clijsters at the 2009 U.S. Open.But Pliskova, who leads the tour in aces this season, realizes what a daunting task awaits her against Williams.Shes a big hitter and she can have 50 winners -- and you cannot do much about it, said Pliskova, whose twin sister is also a tennis player. But Im still going to hope that there is going to be some chance in the match where I can get my chance and be the one who is playing aggressive.The other womens semifinal Thursday is No. 2 Angelique Kerber of Germany against 74th-ranked Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, a former No. 1 who is a two-time runner-up at Flushing Meadows.Kerber, who is 7-5 against Wozniacki, has a chance to overtake Williams atop the rankings after the tournament.This would mean a lot to me, Kerber said. I mean, when I was a kid, I was always dreaming (of) being the No. 1. Lets see. I mean, there are still matches to go.Williams overcame a real challenge in the quarterfinals, her first of the these two weeks, by getting past No. 5 Simona Halep 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 with the help of 18 aces and by winning the point on 26 of her 32 trips to the net.The sore right shoulder that developed in the days after the American won Wimbledon to tie Steffi Grafs Open-era mark of 22 major championships does not appear to be a problem any long.I feel OK. Im not at 100 percent, but Im OK, Williams said. Nothing to complain too much about.During the difficulties she encountered in the second set of her quarterfinal -- Williams went 0 for 12 on break points -- there never was the sort of emotional display she is famous for. A cracked racket, say, or screams of anger or self-encouragement.I was rather positive today, and thats not normal. Im just going to go with it, Williams said with a smile.Asked later to explain her mental state more, Williams replied: I was really rather calm today and not trying to be. I guess thats just how I got out of bed this morning. I definitely wanted to do some more `Come ons. I dont know why. Thats weird.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich Thomas Welsh Jersey .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. 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Even the worst team has certain plays and tendencies in which the players are productive.Today, weve gone through Football Outsiders extensive stat databases to point out one specific strength of each defense in 2015. (We examined each teams offense on Monday.) Some of these splits are significant for illuminating the strengths and weaknesses of each teams personnel. Other splits tend to oscillate wildly from year to year, and a great performance in 2015 may not indicate that a team will be equally strong in the same ways in 2016. Either way, the numbers provide an interesting window into what each teams defense did right last season.Football Outsiders advanced metrics are explained here. The most important is DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), which measures success on each play compared to the league average adjusted for situation and opponent. Because it is measured on a per-play basis, it can easily be separated to measure specific splits; youll see a lot of those ratings below.Charting stats such as frequency of blitzes, pass pressure and play-action come from research by ESPN Stats & Information. Other charting mettrics, including cornerback coverage stats and broken tackles, come from Sports Information Solutions.dddddddddddd Youll be able to find many more of these stats in our book Football Outsiders Almanac 2016, which will be released online on Aug. 1.AFC East | AFC North | AFC South | AFC West NFC East | NFC North | NFC South | NFC WestAFC EASTBuffalo BillsAlthough the Bills defense struggled overall (24th in DVOA), they improved to sixth in the league in the fourth quarter or overtime. This wasnt just a case of opponents running out the clock in wins: The Bills had a better-than-average defense in the fourth quarter whether they were winning or losing the game.Miami DolphinsYou may remember from Mondays article on under-the-radar offensive strengths that Miamis offense was much better on second down than on first or third. Oddly, this also was true for the Miami defense, which ranked seventh in DVOA on second down, including fifth against the run. Thats much better than the Dolphins overall ranking of 25th in defensive DVOA and 20th in DVOA against the run.New England Patriots ' ' '
