Azarenka to face Stosur for Doha crown

Tennis Betting Lines

02/18/2012 - Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Victoria Azarenka and Samantha Stosur were semifinal winners Saturday and will meet for the title at the Qatar Open.

The top-seeded Azarenka has yet to lose a match this year and easily polished off Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 6-2, 6-4. The third-seeded Stosur won the first set of her semifinal against Marion Bartoli, 6-3, when the Frenchwoman was forced to retire because of a calf injury.

Azarenka improved to 16-0 in 2012 and will try for her third title in as many events. She won the season-opener in Sydney before capturing her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month.

The victory in Melbourne vaulted her into the top ranking on the WTA circuit.

Radwanska, seeded fourth this week, simply needs to avoid Azarenka in the draw. She has lost to the Belarussian in each of her three events in 2012, first falling in the Sydney semifinals and then in the Australian Open quarters.

Azarenka is 10-8 all-time in finals, while Stosur is just 3-10. The Australian is coming off a banner 2011 season that included her first major championship at the U.S. Open, but the start of this year had been a complete disaster until this week.

Stosur had just one win in four matches to start 2012, including a disappointing first-round loss to Sorana Cirstea at the Australian Open. This is her first event since flaming out in her home country and she avenged that loss in Melbourne by beating Cirstea in the second round this week.

Bartoli was trying to reach her second straight final, having lost to Angelique Kerber last week in Paris, but said she injured her thigh during a quarterfinal win Friday against Lucie Safarova. After battling through the first set Saturday, she decided after a couple of points in the second set to call it quits.

Azarenka also appeared to injure her right ankle during Saturday's semifinal, but managed to finish the match and improved 8-3 lifetime against Radwanska.

Sunday's final could be a one-sided affair, as Azarenka has never lost to Stosur in five lifetime meetings. Stosur has yet to even win a set and suffered a 6-2, 6-2 drubbing at the WTA Championships last year in the most recent meeting.

The 2012 Doha champion will earn $385,000.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

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Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

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