eeded Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova will face Dutchw

INDIANAPOLIS - Jadeveon Clowney wants NFL scouts to rethink their draft strategy. Zack Greinke Astros Jersey . Instead of settling for one of those glitzy, franchise quarterbacks, hes urging teams to build a fast, physical defence that can stop all those high-powered offences, and he has the perfect suggestion about where to start. Himself. "Thats one of my goals here, to go No. 1," this years top-rated defensive end said softly Saturday at the NFLs scouting combine. "I came out of high school as the No. 1 player so I want to come out of here as the No. 1 guy." Nobody doubts the former South Carolina star has the physical tools to go No. 1 in May. He measured in Saturday at 6-foot-5 1/4, 266 pounds, with an 83-inch wingspan and hopes to finish the 40-yard dash in the 4.4s, maybe the low 4.5s if hes a little off. With numbers like that, its no wonder Clowney is projected to go in the top five in May. But going ahead of quarterbacks such as Johnny Manziel, Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater will take a lot more than athleticism. The biggest questions Clowney will answer this week focus on his work ethic and desire, and it sure didnt help when he missed Friday nights first round of team interviews because of travel problems. He said he drove from Columbia, S.C., to Charlotte, N.C., to avoid one two-hour delay only to run into another 2 1/2-hour delay. While coaches and team executives may excuse Clowneys tardy arrival, they still need to find out whether theyll be drafting the guy who delivered that helmet-dislodging, highlight-making hit on Michigans Vincent Smith in the 2013 Outback Bowl or the guy critics believe was more concerned with protecting his draft stock than winning games in 2013. Clowney insisted he was the same guy, though he did admit he would have left school after his sophomore season — if NFL rules would have allowed it. "I believe I did work hard. You pull out any practice tape from last year, youll see that," Clowney said. "Ill tell everybody that. I will always be working hard. No matter where I end up I am going to work hard and give a team everything Ive got." The numbers and words seem to tell a different tale. He finished 2012 with 54 tackles and 13 sacks. And despite the lofty expectations from college football fans after that eye-popping hit, Clowney finished 2013 with 40 tackles and only three sacks. What happened is a matter of perception. Some believe Clowney did not go all-out following a public debate about whether it was even worth it for him to play in 2013. Try telling that to those who had to block Clowney. "I dont think he took a play off," Missouri tackle Justin Britt said. "If he did, I didnt see it." But inside the Gamecocks program, there were signs something was amiss. In October, coach Steve Spurrier expressed frustration that the injured Clowney waited too long to tell coaches he couldnt play. Then, this week, on the eve of the combine, Spurrier told NFL Network that Clowneys work ethic was "OK," rekindling talk about Clowneys desire to excel at football. Not surprisingly, it was still a hot topic when Clowney took the podium at Lucas Oil Stadium with a huge crowd of reporters seeking answers to the same questions as team executives. Clowney started the explanation by saying opponents relied on shorter, quicker passes to slow down South Carolinas pass rush and then defended his effort. "There were a lot of ups and downs, but we won eleven games, were 11-2, won our bowl game, finished No. 4 in the country for the first time in South Carolina history so I was pretty excited about the season," Clowney said. "I wasnt really worried about my stats, I just wanted to win." Instead, Clowney contends the bigger problem was the artificially high level of expectations going into the season. But now Clowney must convince coaches, scouts and team executives the guy they watched in 2012 was the same guy they saw on film in 2013 and will continue to be the same guy they can build a defence around. And to jump back up the draft board into position for the top spot, Clowney understands he has to convince teams he means what he says. "I just want to be the best, one of the greatest of all time," he said. "Coming out of high school, I said I wanted to be one of the best in college and I think I proved that. Going to the NFL, I want to be one of the best in the NFL, go down in history as one of the best, so I have another stepping stone in my way and hopefully I can take care of business and accomplish that in the NFL." Abraham Toro Jersey .Fiji striker Roy Krishna scored in the 14th minute to give Wellington its fourth win, along with a draw, from its past five matches, putting the Phoenix fourth but only a point behind third-placed Adelaide. Ryan Pressly Jersey . - David Tomasek had two goals in regulation time and was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Belleville Bulls upset the Oshawa Generals 6-5 on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. https://www.cheapastros.com/183o-francis-martes-jersey-astros.html . -- A.J. Burnett was happy to escape from New York.Melbourne, Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Former champion Maria Sharapova and third seed Simona Halep notched wins, while former runner-up Ana Ivanovic was a stunning opening-round loser on Day 1 at the Australian Open. The second-seeded former world No. 1 Sharapova eased past Croat Petra Martic 6-4, 6-1. The reigning French Open champion titled here in 2008 and was an Aussie runner-up in 2007 and 2012. Sharapova opened her 2015 season with a title in Brisbane two weeks ago. Her second-round opponent on Wednesday will be fellow Russian Alexandra Panova. Last years French Open runner-up to Sharapova, Halep, handled Italian Karin Knapp 6-3, 6-2 at Melbourne Park. Halep opened her latest season with her ninth career title in Shenzhen, China, two weeks ago. Shell meet Aussie Jarmila Gajdosova on Day 3 this week. Meanwhile, Czech Lucie Hradecka sent shockwaves by ousting fifth-seeded Ivanovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena. The Serbian Ivanovic, who was the Aussie runner-up to Sharapova in 2008, suffered her earliest exit at a Grand Slam event since the French Open in 2011. She was a quarterfinalist in Melbourne last year. I think the whole match I didnt really feel like myself out there, Ivanovic said. It was really tough for me to find a rhythm a little bit. In the third set, I really felt like she raised her level. Hradecka, playing her first Grand Slam main draw since last years Aussie Open, lost in qualifying at the other three majors in 2014. The doubles specialist entered the week ranked 142nd in singles play. She has 18 doubles titles, but none in singles. In the first set I was so nervous, Hradecka said. I couldnt hit any balls in the court. When I went outside, I started to serve in the second set, I thought, Okay, it cannot be the worst. Lets play every point and lets see what will happen. Its the earliest exit by a top-5 seed since 2003, when then No. 3 Jennifer Capriati was ousted by Marlene Weingartner. Seventh-seeded Canadian star Eugenie Bouchard doused German Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-2, 6-4, while another upset saw Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania beat No. Nolan Ryan Astros Jersey. 9 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany, 6-4, 0-6, 6-1. Bouchard was the only woman to appear in three Grand Slam semifinals last year. Bouchards second-round opponent will be Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens. In other action involving top-16 seeds, No. 10 Russian Ekaterina Makarova whipped Belgian An-Sophie Mestach 6-2, 6-2, No. 14 former Roland Garros runner-up Sara Errani drilled American Grace Min 6-1, 6-0 and Kazakhstans Yaroslava Shvedova upended No. 16 Czech Lucie Safarova 6-4, 2-6, 8-6. In other play involving seeds, German Carina Witthoeft took out No. 17 Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-1; No. 21 Peng Shuai of China beat Germanys Tatjana Maria 6-4, 7-5; No. 22 Czech Karolina Pliskova defeated Russian Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 6-1; Belgiums Yanina Wickmayer downed No. 23 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Frances Caroline Garcia upset No. 27 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-4, 6-2; Frances Kristina Mladenovic doused No. 28 Sabine Lisicki of Germany 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; No. 31 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan overcame Pole Urszula Radwanska 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; and Germanys Julia Goerges vanquished No. 32 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-1. Several other women moved on, including Americans Christina McHale and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Puerto Rican Monica Puig and Italian veteran Roberta Vinci. On Tuesday, top seed Serena Williams will meet Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck and fourth-seeded Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova will face Dutchwoman Richel Hogenkamp. The reigning U.S. Open champion Williams owns 18 career Grand Slam titles, including a whopping five Aussie crowns. Also slated for opening-round action on Day 2 are sixth-seeded former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska, eighth-seeded former No. 1 and 2014 U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, 11th-seeded 2014 Aussie Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, and 18th-seeded former top-ranked star and former Aussie finalist Venus Williams. ' ' '