Azarenka outduels Clijsters, reaches Aussie finals

Tennis Betting Lines

01/26/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Victoria Azarenka ended Kim Clijsters' run at consecutive Australian Open titles Thursday, besting the four-time Grand Slam champion in a tense three-set semifinal battle.

Azarenka, seeded third, reached her first major final by outlasting the defending champion, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, in two hours, 12 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.

The 22-year-old became the first Belarusian woman to reach a Grand Slam final since Natasha Zvereva did so at Roland Garros in 1988 when she was representing U.S.S.R.

In doing so, she ended another memorable performance Down Under by Clijsters, who has stated she will retire after the Summer Olympics in London.

If this was, in fact, the Belgian's final visit to the season's first major, she went down fighting. Azarenka broke Clijsters' second serve of the match, then fought off four break chances in the proceeding game.

Azarenka held serve with relative ease the rest of the opening set to stay in the driver's seat, but Clijsters began her comeback by breaking at love on Azarenka's service game in the second.

Clijsters, the 11th seed, quickly evened the match before falling behind 4-1 in the third. She held serve and trailed 40-0 in the next game before breaking to get back on serve.

But Azarenka, riding a 10-match winning streak after winning in Sydney earlier this month, earned her fourth break of the match to serve for a spot in the finals.

In the quarterfinals, Clijsters fought off four match points against last year's Aussie runner-up Li Na before pulling out the three-set victory.

A repeat performance was not meant to be, as Clijsters was wide on match point to end any chance at becoming the eighth woman to repeat as Aussie champion.

Azarenka will face the winner of the Petra Kvitova-Maria Sharapova match. The champion will become the new World No. 1, supplanting Clijsters' quarterfinal victim, Caroline Wozniacki.

Starlck Tennis Betting News

<< Love records another double-double, T-Wolves beat Mavs
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Love celebrated his contract extension in predictable fashion, scoring 31 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the Timberwolves' 105-90 trouncing of the shorthanded Mavericks. Love, who agreed to a

<< Duke rebounds at Maryland
College Park, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mason Plumlee totaled 23 points and 12 rebounds as No. 8 Duke downed Maryland, 74-61. Ryan Kelly posted 14 points and Austin Rivers added 10 for the Blue Devils (17-3, 5-1 ACC), who shook off a

<< Kansas State keeps Texas Tech winless in Big 12
Lubbock, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martavious Irving finished with 16 points on 6- of-10 shooting from the floor, leading No. 22 Kansas State to a 69-47 victory over Texas Tech on Wednesday. Rodney McGruder scored 13 points and pulled down si

<< Creighton handles Drake
Des Moines, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Doug McDermott netted a game-high 30 points on 10-of-14 from the floor to go with nine rebounds as No. 15 Creighton topped Drake, 77-69, on Wednesday. Jahenns Manigat drained five three-pointers en route t

<< Durant, Thunder drop skidding Hornets
Oklahoma City, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Durant had 25 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, lifting the Western Conference-leading Thunder over the skidding Hornets, 101-91. James Harden added 18 points and six assists for Okla

Nash leads OSU to upset of No. 2 Missouri >>
Stillwater, OK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Le'Bryan Nash kept rising up and firing from beyond the arc, and as each shot went down, the anticipation of an upset grew larger at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Nash hit three treys and scored 13 points du

Curry lifts Warriors over Blazers >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stephen Curry hit six of Golden State's 11 three-pointers and finished with 32 points and seven assists, as the Warriors took down the Portland Trail Blazers, 101-93. David Lee posted 26 points and Brando

UNLV slips past Boise State in OT >>
Boise, ID (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Moser had a monster night with 18 points and 21 rebounds as No. 12 UNLV escaped with a 77-72 overtime win over Boise State. Chace Stanback added 15 points for the Rebels (19-3, 3-1 MWC), who won their thir

Nuggets cap 5-0 road trip with rout of Kings >>
Sacramento, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danilo Gallinari led seven players in double figures with 23 points, as the Nuggets wrapped up a historically successful road trip with a 122-93 blowout of the Kings. Since joining the NBA prior to the

Double the pleasure: Raptors end another skid in Utah >>
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andrea Bargnani and Linas Kleiza scored 25 points apiece Wednesday night and the Toronto Raptors snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Utah Jazz with a 111-106 win in double-overtime. It was T

Albert Pujols to be This Year's Home Run Champ Says Online Sportsbook

Barry Bonds is a 50-1 long shot to be this year's home run champ odds.  The favorite to be this year's home run champ is none other than Albert Pujols, however.

Now that Barry Bonds is signed and in Giants camp, it is on to his pursuit of all of sports most prestigious records: the all-time home run mark. Bonds sits just 21 homers shy of tying Hank Aaron for the career mark at 755. Word out of Giants’ camp is that Bonds is the healthiest he has been in a few years. Bonds is just two seasons removed from his injury riddled 2005 campaign where he played in only 14 games and hit only 5 home runs. He did come back last year and had a solid season hitting .270 with 26 bombs. All eyes will be on Bonds this spring and summer not only because of his home run chase but his highly publicized steroid abuse allegations. If and when Bonds breaks the record, he surely will not get the positive attention one should for breaking a record that was once thought of as “unbreakable”. Despite Bonds decent season last year, he is just 50-1 at MySportsbook.com to lead the MLB in long balls this season.

Not surprisingly, the favorites to go deep the most times this season are Albert Pujols 5-1, Ryan Howard 6-1, David Ortiz 8-1 and Alex Rodriguez 12-1. With 49 homers, Pujols finished second in the National League behind Howard (58). Pujols is considered the favorite due to the consistent power numbers that he has posted since breaking into the league in 2001. Also one must consider the fact that he played in 16 fewer games then Howard did due to an injury. Howard smashed 58 homers in his first complete season of big league play en route to the National League MVP odds award. He silenced his critics by successfully hitting left-handed pitching. Howard also displayed the ability to use his power to the opposite field. Two attributes which should keep Howard amongst the league leaders in long balls for years to come. From the American League representatives, David Ortiz leads the field. Ortiz was second in the majors last year with 54 home runs. Except for 1999 when he only played in 10 games, Ortiz has improved on his home run numbers each year he has been in the majors (1997).

Be sure to log onto online sports betting site MySportsbook.com to check out the odds for who will lead the MLB in home runs this season. Below is just a sample of the players listed. With the highest credit card rates in the industry, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on baseball this summer.

World Series odds

Adam Dunn 15-1

Albert Pujols 5-1

Alex Rodriguez 12-1

Alfonso Soriano 15-1

Andruw Jones 25-1

Barry Bonds 50-1

Carlos Delgado 40-1

David Ortiz 8-1

Jermaine Dye 40-1

Ken Griffey Jr. 100-1

Lance Berkman 40-1

Manny Ramirez 20-1

Richie Sexson 40-1

Ryan Howard 6-1

Travis Hafner 20-1

Vladimir Guerrero 40-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.