Daily Bagel: Wozniacki says dating golfer McIlroy came in handy

The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet. • At the Dubai Championships, Maria Sharapova made a

The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.

• At the Dubai Championships, Maria Sharapova made a strong debut against Shelby Rogers with a 6-4, 6-1 win over the young American in just an hour and 14 minutes. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Monica Puig also moved into the second round, while Spaniard Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor rallied from 5-3 down in the second and third sets to take down No. 8 seed Madison Brengle 2-6, 7-5, 7-5.

• After winning her equal-biggest title of her career in Dubai, Simona Halep was unable to defend her title in Doha, Qatar, due to a left rib injury. But the world No. 3 says she hopes to be back on the court shortly: "Normally it's like 10 days to recover, and then I will be okay to play. I hope to play Indian Wells 100%."​

• Before her first match on Tuesday, Sharapova also took some time to enjoy the beaches of Acapulco and there are lots of pics to prove it. 

Steve Jennings/Getty Images for Leisure Opportunities

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• Also in Acapulco: A Vine posted on Monday afternoon seemed to indicate that Grigor Dimitrov jumped off of a cliff 35 meters high; however, it was later confirmed that the video was actually a stunt double.

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A post shared by Grigor Dimitrov (@grigordimitrov)

• Novak Djokovic opened up his bid for his 50th tour level title in Dubai with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Vasek Pospisil in Dubai, while both Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych got through a tricky openers. Murray beat Gilles Muller and Berdych got by Jeremy Chardy to put himself one win away from his 500th career victory. 

• Caroline Wozniacki got a correct answer in the mobile gaming app Trivia Crack, thanks to her ex-boyfriend and golfer, Rory McIlroy.

[tweet=https://twitter.com/CaroWozniacki/status/570281312885477377]

• After he announced his decision to not play in the Davis Cup for Switzerland in 2015, Roger Federer also issued an apology for getting caught up in the rivalry between Indian and Pakistani cricket fans. Federer posted a photo of himself holding up a blue Indian jersey to his Facebook page ​last week and it apparently irritated fans in Pakistan. He apologized, saying: "I support South Africa, and everybody knows that. The idea wasn't to spark any fire and I'm sorry if it did that." Federer also said that the photo was taken for his sponsor, adding: "It was more of a Nike thing to be quite honest."

• The Davis Cup World Group nominations are out, with Djokovic leading the Serbian team; John Isner and Donald Young heading the U.S. team; Murray as No. 1 for the British; and Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet​ leading last year's runner-up French team. You can see all of the nominations here.

• Watch: Federer makes a difficult shot look easy against Mikhail Youzhny at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.​

• From The Wall Street Journal: Ben Rothenberg's new book The Stylish Life: Tennis documents the history of the fashionable side of tennis and the sport's contribution and collaboration with the fashion industry.