Victoria Azarenka admits that her bid to win two Middle East tournaments in as many weeks is an emotional one as the young Belarussian returns to Dubai where she nearly quit the game a year ago.

This time last year the 22-year-old from Minsk thought she would quit the women's tour after early defeats in Doha and Dubai.

Former Queens Park Rangers manager Neil Warnock made a swift return to football on Saturday after being confirmed as the new boss of Championship side Leeds.

Warnock, controversially fired by QPR last month after successfully guiding the Londoners into the Premier League, began his reign by vowing to return the Yorkshire giants to the top-flight.

Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose biography has sold more than 500,000 copies, is following up on the success by launching his life story as an interactive iPad app.

Sara Ohrvall, a spokeswoman for Swedish publisher Albert Bonnier, said the "I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic" application, based on the paperback biography with the same name, "is the first interactive biography app in the world."

Dutch coaching legend Guus Hiddink is on the verge of signing an 18-month contract with Russia's Anzhi Makhachkala that will make him one of the world's highest-paid managers, news reports said Friday.

The Sport Express daily said the 65-year-old manager will sign a deal with tycoon Suleyman Kerimov's club after joining them in Belek, Turkey, where Anzhi are currently training.

Manchester United and Manchester City shrugged off the disappointment of being dumped out of the Champions League to inch confidently closer to the Europa League last 16 on Thursday.

United defeated Ajax in Amsterdam 2-0 with Ashley Young and Javier Hernandez finding the target in the first leg of their last-32 tie.

Carlos Boozer scored 23 points, pulled down 15 rebounds and handed out five assists as the Chicago Bulls again overcame the absence of Derrick Rose to outlast Boston 89-80.

Luol Deng and Joakim Noah on Thursday also had "double-doubles" for Chicago, Deng contributing 23 points with 10 assists and Noah scoring 15 points with 16 rebounds.

Behind concrete walls and with no men in sight, Saudi women wearing shorts and short-sleeve shirts meet three times a week to play football in an all-female club in Saudi Arabia's port city of Jeddah.

Cheering them on is Jeddah King's United coach and striker Rima Abdullah, who is also leading a campaign in the ultra-conservative Muslim country to allow women to participate in sports and compete internationally.

The city of Manchester were hoping to see their two football sides fight out the Champions League final, but instead on Thursday both sets of fans will have to make do with the lesser fare of the Europa League.

However, both face tricky second round ties if they are to progress a step closer to the final on May 9 in the mundane surroundings of Bucharest rather than the glamour of the Champions League final in Munich on May 19.

Jeremy Lin ignited a balanced New York attack with a career-high 13 assists as the Knicks stretched their NBA win streak to seven games with a 100-85 victory over Sacramento.

"Linsanity" continued at Madison Square Garden as Lin, the first U.S.-born NBA player of Taiwanese and Chinese heritage, continued a magical run that has seen him rise from the Knicks bench to become a global sensation.

Tony Parker scored 34 points and added 14 assists to lead San Antonio over the Toronto Raptors 113-106, stretching the Spurs' NBA win streak to nine games.

Brazil's Tiago Splitter and Danny Green each added 13 points for the Spurs, who improved to 21-9 as they chase Western Conference leader Oklahoma City.