Victoria Azarenka (Wikimedia Commons)
The Rogers’ Women’s Cup takes center stage this weekend from Montreal and believe it or not there is an Edmonton Oilers’ connection. Victoria Azarenka, the 10th seed from Belarus, lived with Oiler goalie Nikolai Khabibulin and his family in Scottsdale, Arizona when she first moved to the United States to progress her tennis career at the age of 14. The two have been close friends since on and off the tennis court.
Azarenka is in the semi-final this evening against Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Zvonareva, seeded eighth, leads the head-to-head meetings 4-2, but Azarenka has won the last two meetings including a three set win in the round of 16 at the Australian Open this past January. The match can be seen at 5pm on CBC.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday–1pm–Rogers Cup Women’s Semi-Final–CBC–In the other semi-final of the Rogers’ Women’s Cup from Montreal, the 2009 U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark takes on the 2009 French Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, seeded 11th. Wozniacki, seeded second, will likely be ranked number one at the U.S. Open in ten days because of the foot injury to Serena Williams. Head to head, the two are tied 2 wins a piece, with Wozniacki winning their last meeting in the round of 16 at last year’s U.S. Open 2-6, 7-6, 7-6.
Sunday–11:30am–Rogers Cup Women’s Final–CBC–Uniprix Stadium in Montreal will be the host site of the 2010 Rogers Women’s Cup– and there will be a new champion this year. Wozniacki, Kuznetsova, Zvonareva, and Azarenka have not won the Rogers Cup before. Zvonareva and Kuznetsova will try and continue a Russian trend. Russians have won the Rogers Cup the last two years. Dinara Safina won in 2008 and Elena Dementieva won last year.
Sunday–2:30pm–Cincinnati Reds @ Los Angeles Dodgers–Sportsnet–Reds’ manager Dusty Baker has done an amazing job with the Reds this season and will get National League Manager of the Year consideration, along with San Diego’s Bud Black. The Reds have won seven in a row and have opened a 4.5 game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central. A major reason for the Reds’ success has been the play of Toronto native Joey Votto, who has a chance to win the Triple Crown. He leads the National League in batting average (.320), is third in home runs (28), and second in runs batted in (81).
Sunday–6pm–Los Angeles Angels @ Minnesota Twins–TSN2–The American League Central leading Twins will face Angels’ ace Jered Weaver, in the final game of the weekend. The Twins currently lead the Chicago White Sox by 4.5 games, while the Angels are now in third place, eight games back of the Texas Rangers in the American League West. The Twins will not have their home run leader– Justin Morneau of New Westminster, British Columbia, in the lineup because of a concussion he suffered July 7 while sliding into second base against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Tags: caroline wozniacki, Edmonton Oilers, joey votto, justin morneau, MLB, nikolai khabibulin, victoria azarenka
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