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MELBOURNE, Australia - Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka faces the prospect of drawing a top player in the first round at the Australian Open after missing out on a seeding Wednesday. Joey Rickard Orioles Jersey . Last year was one to forget for Azarenka — injuries to her left foot, then right knee and right foot restricted her to just 24 matches last year and her WTA ranking has dropped to 41. The top 32 players are seeded, and tournament officials went strictly by the rankings released Monday to determine the seedings list this year on both the mens and womens side. No. 1 Serena Williams and No. 2 Maria Sharapova will be on opposite sides of the draw after their world rankings were reflected in the seedings for the first major of the year. Former No. 1-ranked Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013 and reached two Grand Slam quarterfinals in 2014 during an injury-interrupted year, dropped from a No. 32 year-end ranking. Azarenkas first-round loss last week at the Brisbane International to Karolina Pliskova, after wasting two match points in the second set, cost her any chance of climbing back into the top 32. Chinas Li Na has retired and wont be defending her Australian title. Dominika Cibulkova, the losing finalist last year at Melbourne Park, is seeded No. 11. Eugenie Bouchard, the 20-year-old Canadian who last year reached the semifinals at the Australian and French Opens before making the Wimbledon final, is seeded No. 7. On the mens side, Nos. 1-3 Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are all seeded ahead of defending mens champion Stan Wawrinka, who No. 4. U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori of Japan was seeded fifth, one spot ahead of three-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray. Canadian Milos Raonic drew the eighth seed. On Wednesday, Nadal had a strong training session at Melbourne Park, indicating he might be overcoming some recent health and injury issues. Nadal was sidelined for three months with a right wrist injury after Wimbledon. He briefly returned at Beijing in late September where he advanced to the quarterfinals. He then had appendix surgery in early November which he is still recovering from. This is the third comeback of my career after injury, so we will see how it goes, Nadal said. Dylan Bundy Orioles Jersey . JOHNS, N. Ubaldo Jimenez Jersey . Earnshaw, 31, most recently spent time on loan in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv from Welsh club Cardiff City, which plays in Englands second-tier League Championship. Earnshaw began his career with Cardiff Citys youth program and turned professional in 1998. The chief prosecutor in Oscar Pistorius murder trial said Thursday in closing arguments that the athlete repeatedly lied during testimony in a crude attempt to defend himself against a murder charge for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel cited flaws in the defence, saying the Olympians legal team floated more than one theory about what happened on the night that Pistorius shot Steenkamp through a closed toilet door in his home. Defence lawyers had argued that Pistorius fired in self-defence, fearing an intruder, Nel said, but they also raised the possibility that he was not criminally responsible and accidentally shot because he was "startled." "Its two defences that you can never reconcile," Nel said as Pistorius sat behind him in the dock, occasionally flicking through documents. The once-celebrated double-amputee athlete appeared calm, in contrast to some past occasions during which he retched and wailed in apparent distress. The prosecution has argued that Pistorius intentionally shot Steenkamp before dawn on Feb. 14, 2013 after a quarrel, and argued he knew she was in the bathroom. Nel ended his closing argument by saying Pistorius was guilty of premeditated murder because he then "made up his mind" to find his gun, walk through to the bathroom and shoot. "That, my lady, is pre-planning," Nel said to the judge. Yet Nel said Pistorius should still be convicted of murder even if the court accepts he did not know it was Steenkamp in the toilet cubicle, arguing the athlete intentionally shot at and killed a person with no reason to believe his life was under threat. Barry Roux, the chief defence lawyer, listened and checked files as Nel spoke for hours. Nel was occasionally questioned by Judge Thokozile Masipa and urged to speed up elaborations on written arguments of more than 100 pages that were submitted to the court last week. Roux began his final arguments before Masipa postponed proceedings until Friday for the defence to finish. Masipa will then adjourn the trial to deliberate with two legal assistants on a verdict, with Pistorius facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted on the main charge of premeditated murder. Roux noted that some of the evidence at the scene, which Nel referred to, had been moved around by investigators. "Were not talking about a conspiracy," Roux said, calling it unintentional tampering. Roux also noted that Hilton Botha, the former chhief investigating officer in the case, had acknowledged mistakes in police procedure but was not called by the state as a trial witness. Brooks Robinson Orioles Jersey. According to Nel, Pistorius was vague in allegations that police had possibly tampered with evidence around the scene of the shooting, including fans and a bedcover strewn on the floor of his bedroom. It was also improbable that the athlete, in his version, rushed with his gun to investigate a purported sound in the bathroom without first trying to talk to Steenkamp and confirm that she was safe, the prosecutor said. "We cannot argue that he was the worst witness ever, that honour belongs to someone else," said the prosecutions written argument. "The accused was, however, demonstrably one of the worst witnesses ever encountered." The prosecution said Pistorius also "used well-calculated and rehearsed emotional outbursts to deflect the attention and avoid having to answer questions." A psychologist who examined Pistorius during a court-ordered observation period concluded that the athlete had become severely traumatized since the killing and could become an increasing suicide risk unless he continues to get mental health care. The fathers of the Olympic runner and Steenkamp, a model and television personality, were in the Pretoria courtroom for the first time since the trial began in early March. They sat at opposite ends of a long bench in the gallery. Pistorius is said to be estranged from his father, Henke, and Steenkamps father, Barry, has been ill. Pistorius older brother Carl, who has regularly attended court sessions, was in an intensive care unit in a South African hospital and was on a ventilator because of injuries suffered in a serious car crash last week, the Pistorius family said in a statement. In addition to the murder charge, Pistorius faces three separate gun-related charges. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Because South Africa has no trial by jury, Judge Masipa will decide if Pistorius committed murder, is guilty of a negligent killing, or if he made a tragic error and should be acquitted. The runner also would be sent to prison for years if guilty of murder without premeditation or culpable homicide. Masipa told Nel and Roux that they had only until the end of Friday to complete their final arguments in court. "Unless, of course, you want to work on a Saturday and perhaps Sunday, after church," she said, smiling. Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Womens Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys China Womens NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Throwback ' ' '
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