TOKYO -- Venus Williams overpowered Mona Barthel of Germany 6-3, 6-1 on Sunday to advance to the second round of the Pan Pacific Open. Clearance Soccer Jerseys . Williams needed just 1 hour, 4 minutes at Ariake Colosseum to dispatch Barthel and set up a second-round matchup with top-seeded Victoria Azarenka, who has a first-round bye. Williams is 2-0 in head-to-head matches against Azarenka. They last met three years ago in the Dubai Duty Free final. "Ive watched many of her matches," Williams said. "Especially the big matches against Serena. Watching them at the U.S. Open was awesome, and hopefully that will help me." Top-ranked Serena Williams, who won her 17th Grand Slam singles title with a three-set win over Azarenka at the U.S. Open, pulled out of the $2.3 million tournament, saying she needed time to recover from a busy summer playing schedule. No. 3-ranked Maria Sharapova also pulled out of the Tokyo tournament because of a right-shoulder injury that kept her out of the U.S. Open. In other matches, ninth-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States beat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2 while 12th-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia came from a set down for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Alize Cornet of France. Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, seeded fourteenth, defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (4), 7-5. Sorana Cirstea of Romania beat Julia Goerges of Germany, 6-4, 6-4. Stitched Soccer Jerseys . -- Adrian Peterson takes a look around the league and sees big money flying everywhere. Soccer Jerseys China . Five straight losses (and six in the past seven) now dot the schedule – matching their longest skid of the year – after they fell again in New Jersey on Sunday night, topped 3-2 by Cory Schneider and the Devils. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/ . "Im not doing enough to help them," Durant told The Oklahoman on Monday of his 28-9 team. "Im shooting too much. Im shooting too many threes. Im not helping them out at all. VITORIA, Spain -- Former NBA star Lamar Odom has agreed to a short-term deal with Spanish basketball club Baskonia. The former Los Angeles Lakers forward has a two-month contract, the club said on Tuesday. Odom, an NBA free agent who hasnt played since finishing out last season with the Los Angeles Clippers, is filling a roster spot that opened up because of injury. Baskonia said the deal includes an option to extend the contract until the close of the season. Odom, 34 and a two-time NBA champion with the Lakers who has also played for the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat, was expected in the Basque capital of Vitoria this week, and could make his debut on Saturday against Valladolid. "Were very happy to have signed a very important player who has had a long and fruitful career in the NBA," Baskonia president Josean Querejeta said in a statement. &qquot;Weve worked very hard over the last couple of days to make this happen, we felt we needed a boost and had to break the collective cloud that has been hanging over us over the last while so we could get back to winning. Cheap Soccer Jerseys. " Baskonia was ninth in the 18-team Spanish league and last in its Euroleague group, with a match against fellow Spanish club Barcelona on Thursday. The 2.09-meter (6-foot-10) power forward averaged a career-low 4.0 points and 5.9 rebounds last season with the Clippers. Off-court distractions seemed to consume him after last season as he was arrested for drunken driving last summer before getting divorced from wife Khloe Kardashian, who he starred with in a reality television show, in December. Odom trades Los Angeles and Hollywood for Vitoria, a medieval city which is the equivalent size of Birmingham, Alabama. ' ' '