The spectators told Monica Puig they believed she could win Puerto Ricos first Olympic gold medal in any sport, providing a soundtrack of Si se puede! -- Yes, we can! -- during the Rio de Janeiro Games womens tennis final.She could. And she did.The unseeded and unheralded Puig capped her run of upsets with the biggest one of all Saturday, overpowering No. 2 Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to become the Olympic champion.I did hear everybody saying, Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! I kept repeating it inside myself: Yes, I can! Yes, I can! Yes, I can! Puig said. They really helped me believe and just showed me they were there for me, whether I was going to win or lose.Puigs father told her he believed, too, emailing the lyrics to the Puerto Rican national anthem a day earlier, just in case they would come in handy. And so, as the strains of that song echoed around an Olympic arena for the first time, and Puerto Ricos red-white-and-blue flag was raised to the highest level during a medal ceremony for the first time, Puig remembered what Dad had written.She recognized plenty of the words as fans belted them out. She just couldnt join in the joyous chorus, for a simple reason: too many tears.If I wouldve stopped crying, I probably would have started singing, Puig said afterward, smiling at the thought. But I couldnt. I was choking up the whole time.A 22-year-old born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and now based in Florida, Puig is also the first woman representing her country to earn a medal of any color. When she finished a tense closing game --saving six break points and converting her fourth match point --she flung away her racket and went over to collect a flag she paraded across the court.I couldnt really believe what just happened, she said. It was such an amazing moment.Gigi Fernandez, who is Puerto Rican, won two Olympic womens doubles gold medals in tennis, but did so while representing the United States.Im particularly happy for Puerto Rico, Fernandez said in a telephone interview from Connecticut. All the hurt that people felt, all the anger people felt because I played for the U.S., I couldnt be happier.Puig had shown promise in the past, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon as a teen in 2013, but she hasnt been that far again at any major. Also notable about Puig: She is the first unseeded woman to win the singles title since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988.Ranked 34th, she added her surprising win over Kerber -- a German who won the Australian Open and was the Wimbledon runner-up this year --to those she picked up in Brazil against two other past major title winners, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova.Earlier Saturday, Kvitova earned the bronze for the Czech Republic by beating Madison Keys of the United States 7-5, 2-6, 6-2. Kvitova called her medal one of the best things that happened in my career, definitely.Clearly, Puig felt the same. And she played attacking tennis full of powerful shots that seemed to rattle the counter-punching Kerber. Puig smacked a down-the-line backhand--her 18th winner to that point, 10 more than Kerber -- for a break that gave her the opening set.During the ensuing changeover, Kerber was visited by a trainer, standing on the sideline while her lower back was massaged and manipulated, before heading to the locker room for a medical timeout. Kerber said later that bothered her from the outset, but it wasnt why she lost.She played her best tennis and one of her best matches in her career, for sure, Kerber said. I tried everything. Lightning Jerseys China .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Cheap Lightning Jerseys For Sale . In the response filed Wednesday to the complaint by 30-year-old Alexander Bradley, attorneys say the former University of Florida player is invoking his Fifth Amendment right that protects people from incriminating themselves. http://www.wholesalelightningjerseys.com/ . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. Cheap Lightning Jerseys .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Cheap Lightning Jerseys Authentic . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15. DETROIT -- The Detroit Tigers have little choice but to keep sending Anibal Sanchez back out to the mound.So even though the Tigers lost their series finale against the New York Mets, they had to be pretty encouraged by what they saw from the right-hander.Sanchez pitched eight impressive innings, striking out 10 in Detroits 3-1 loss Sunday. Francisco Rodriguez came on in the ninth and allowed a tiebreaking two-run homer to Neil Walker.I think that was my best effort, Sanchez said. Just like the last start, I was trying to throw my first pitch for a strike, and then hit the corners with my fastball. When Im putting every fastball in the right spot, I can do everything else I need with my other pitches.The Tigers wasted a chance to take the lead in the eighth when a baserunning blunder gave the Mets a reprieve. It was Detroits second loss in 12 games.Sanchez allowed a run and four hits with no walks.No question that was his best outing of the season, manager Brad Ausmus said. He had a great fastball and he kept his pitch count down. When hes commanding his fastball up in the zone, it lets him use his other pitches.Sanchez was removed from the rotation for a little while earlier in the season, but now the Tigers are dealing with injuries to Jordan Zimmermann and Mike Pelfrey, so Sanchez has had plenty of chances to turn things around.Sundays performance lowered his ERA to 5.88 on the year. Over his last four starts, hes 1-1 with a 3.12 ERA.The Mets allowed Detroit to tie the game at 1 in the seventh with the help of a couple fluky infield hits. Then the Tigers put men on first and second with two outs in the eighth. Casey McGehee slapped a grounder that deflected off first baseman James Loney and into shallow right field.My first thought is: `Not again. Youve got to be kidding me, Mets manager Terry Collins said.But J.D. Martinez stopped at third instead of coming around to score. Justin Upton, who had started the play on first, kept going toward third, leaving two Detroit runners in the vicinity of the same base. Right fielder Curtis Granderson patiently ran the ball all the way in, and Martinez was eventually tagged out in a rundown.J.D. haas his back to the play, so he sees it get knocked down and hes thinking he has to stop.dddddddddddd By that time, if he tries to start up again and go, hes out by 20 feet, Ausmus said. Theres no blame here. Justin looked back and saw the ball got through, so hes thinking that J.D. saw the same thing. J.D. didnt.New York retook the lead when Walker went deep off Rodriguez (1-2).Detroit trails AL Central-leading Cleveland by two games.Addison Reed (3-2) got the win in relief, and Jeurys Familia pitched the ninth for his major league-leading 39th save in 41 chances.Michael Conforto homered for the Mets in the seventh.New Yorks 1-0 lead didnt last long after Confortos drive. With runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Andrew Romine hit a dribbler toward third and the Mets had no play. That was it for starter Jacob deGrom, who was replaced by Jerry Blevins.Pinch-hitter Ian Kinsler then hit a soft chopper that made it past the mound for another infield single, tying the game.Rodriguez hit Alejandro De Aza with a pitch to start the ninth, and Walker followed with a drive to right-center.DeGrom gave up a run and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings.DOUBLING UPThe Mets hit into three double plays in the final four innings in a loss Saturday night. On Sunday, it was Detroits turn to waste scoring chances. The Tigers grounded into double plays in the first, second and fourth.TRAINERS ROOMMets: SS Jose Reyes (left oblique strain) is scheduled to play in a simulated game Monday in Florida. ... De Aza had a wrap around his right wrist after the game but said he was OK and expects to be ready for his teams next game.UP NEXTMets: New York has Monday off before hosting Arizona for three games. Steven Matz (8-8) starts for the Mets on Tuesday night against Zack Greinke (10-3).Tigers: Detroit heads out west for a three-game series with the Mariners. Rookie Michael Fulmer (9-2) takes the mound for the Tigers against Hisashi Iwakuma (12-7) on Monday night.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '