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02/19/2012 - Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Victoria Azarenka just continues to win.
The top-seeded Belarusian beat No. 3 seed Samantha Stosur 6-1, 6-2 in Sunday's final at the Qatar Open.
Azarenka improved to 17-0 in 2012 and captured 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.
Going back to last year, the 22-year-old has reached five straight finals. She won in Luxembourg before losing in the WTA Championships.
On Sunday, Azarenka needed only 67 minutes to continue her dominance of the Aussie Stosur, who has yet to win a set in six lifetime meetings.
Azarenka improved to 11-8 all-time in finals, while Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open champ, fell to 3-11.
<< Nittany Lions seek upset of 15th-ranked Badgers
Madison, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 15th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers will try to
bounce back today as they welcome the Penn State Nittany Lions to the Kohl
Center for Big Ten action.
Wisconsin leads the all-time series between the programs by a
<< No. 5 Duke heads north to battle Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils will
try to stay in the race for the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title
as they head to the Conte Forum to battle the Boston College Eagles.
This will be the
<< Short-handed Boilermakers play host to seventh-ranked Spartans
West Lafayette, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shooting for their first three-game win
streak against Big Ten Conference opponents this season, the Purdue
Boilermakers find themselves at a huge disadvantage as they challenge the
seventh-ranked Michigan
<< Indiana and Iowa meet in Big Ten action
Iowa City, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Facing off against a ranked opponent for the
sixth time this season, the Iowa Hawkeyes are set to entertain the 18th-ranked
Indiana Hoosiers in Big Ten Conference action at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa
City, Iow
Celtic continues to roll with win over Hibs >>
Edinburgh, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic continues to pick up points at a
blistering pace in the Scottish Premier League as it earned a resounding 5-0
win over Hibernian at Easter Road on Sunday.
The Bhoys have now won an astonishing
PSV, AZ suffer shock defeats >>
Groningen, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The top of the Eredivisie table
remained unchanged following league play on Sunday as PSV and AZ Alkmaar both
suffered shock 3-0 defeats to Groningen and Utrecht, respectively.
Groningen edged
Schalke thumps Wolfsburg behind Huntelaar brace >>
Gelsenkirchen, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored a brace
to grab a share of the Bundesliga scoring lead, as Schalke beat Wolfsburg 4-0
on Sunday to solidify its place in the top four.
Huntelaar scored in the 14th and 7
Bud Shootout eligibility revised for 2013 >>
Daytona Beach, FL Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NASCAR's eligibility requirements for the
2013 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway is returning to its
roots.
The sanctioning body announced on Sunday -- prior to qualifying for t
NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.
No. 1 always seems to fit USC.
Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.
Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.
Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.
"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."
Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.
"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."
The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.
"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."
Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.
"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"
USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.
"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."
While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.
As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.
But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.
Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.
The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.
The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.
The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.
No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.
Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.
Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.
Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.
The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.
South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.
The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.
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