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02/22/2012 - Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka decided to pull out of the Dubai Duty Free Championships, citing a left ankle injury, while former top-ranked star and reigning champion Caroline Wozniacki was among Wednesday's second-round winners at the $2 million tennis event.
The Belarusian Azarenka suffered the injury during a semifinal match in Doha last week.
"Obviously it's very disappointing, but, I mean, it's life. It's sport. I just have to take care of it and that's it," Azarenka said. "I take a couple of days off just to see and hopefully it will settle down for as long that I don't need to take a scan or anything.
"But I just need to have my peace of mind and probably will still do the same just to make sure there is nothing really serious. But it has to be taken care of right away."
The 22-year-old Azarenka is off to a sizzling 17-0 start this year, which includes three titles. She captured her first-ever Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open last month, which propelled her to the top of the rankings, where she supplanted Wozniacki.
Azarenka, who was the 2010 runner-up in Dubai, was last week's big winner in Doha.
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, French Open titlist Li Na and former Wimbledon and U.S. Open runner-up Vera Zvonareva were also forced to pull out of Dubai because of injury or illness.
Lucky-loser Casey Dellacqua replaced Azarenka in the Dubai draw and the Aussie promptly lost to German Julia Goerges 6-0, 6-2 in the second round on Wednesday. Azarenka had received a bye into the second round.
The defending Dubai titlist Wozniacki blew past Romanian qualifier Simona Halep 6-2, 6-3. The Dane topped Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in last year's finale here.
Also on Wednesday, fourth-seeded U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur saved all nine break points she faced and reached the third round with a hard-fought 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 victory over Czech Lucie Safarova on the hardcourts at Dubai Tennis Stadium. The Aussie Stosur lost to Azarenka 6-1, 6-2 in last week's finale at the Qatar Open.
In other action involving seeds in Dubai, No. 5 Pole Agnieszka Radwanska downed Israeli qualifier Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-4, No. 8 Serb Jelena Jankovic handled Italian Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-2, and No. 9 German Sabine Lisicki whipped Czech Iveta Benesova 6-3, 6-3. The former No. 1 Jankovic was the Dubai runner-up in 2005.
Meanwhile, another former world No. 1 Serb and former French Open champion, Ana Ivanovic, got past Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) and Slovakian veteran Daniela Hantuchova dismissed Chinese Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-2 on Day 3.
Thursday's quality third-round matches will pit Wozniacki against Ivanovic, Stosur versus Jankovic, Radwanska against Lisicki, and Hantuchova versus Goerges.
The 2012 Dubai champ will earn $446,778.
<< Recovering from Tommy John surgery, David Aardsma signs with Yanks
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have signed reliever David
Aardsma to a one-year contract with a club option for 2013.
The 30-year-old right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery last July 22.
Prior to missing the 2011
<< Blokhin extends stay with Ukraine
Kiev, Ukraine (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oleg Blokhin will remain coach of Ukraine
beyond Euro 2012, it was announced by the Ukraine Football Federation on
Wednesday.
Blokhin led Ukraine to a place in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cu
<< Flames' Butler out with lacerated thigh
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Calgary Flames announced Wednesday that
defenseman Chris Butler is expected to miss three weeks with a left thigh
laceration.
Butler 25, has posted two goals and 13 points in 60 games this seas
<< Queen's Plate highlights Woodbine stakes
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 153rd edition of the $1 million Queen's
Plate headlines the 2012 Woodbine Race Course stakes schedule. The historic
track will offer 102 stakes worth a total of $23 million.
The 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate for
City brushes Porto aside in Europa League >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City steam rolled over Porto
at home on Wednesday, earning a 4-0 victory against the Portuguese side to
advance to the Round of 16 of the Europa League.
Four different players got on th
Pogatetz commits future to Hannover >>
Hannover, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hannover defender Emanuel Pogatetz has
signed a new three-year contract with the club, it was confirmed on Wednesday.
The Austria international's contract was due to expire at the end of the
seas
Hradecka exits Memphis >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third-seeded Czech Lucie Hradecka was
a second-round loser Wednesday at the $220,000 Memphis International tennis
event.
Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko came from behind to beat Hradecka 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3)
on the
The Sixth Man: Lakers' strife was predictable >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Expectations in the NBA are often measured
on a sliding scale.
Most clubs would consider a 19-13 record that placed them a game behind the
division leaders with two days to go before the All-Star break a s
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
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