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01/19/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's champion Novak Djokovic and runner-up Andy Murray were among Thursday's second-round winners, as was home favorite Lleyton Hewitt, who beat an injured Andy Roddick at the Australian Open.
The world No. 1 Djokovic rolled past Colombia's Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, as the super Serb had to overcome an early service break on Day 4.
"I maybe started a little too defensive because he was hitting the ball very strong," Djokovic said. "But then after, it was the other way around."
The reigning Aussie Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titlist has now won 34 of his last 36 Grand Slam matches and is seeking a third straight major title and a third Aussie crown. A title here would put Djokovic in select company, as only four players -- Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal -- have captured three straight Grand Slam championships.
Djokovic will meet big-serving Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the third round on Saturday at Melbourne Park.
The fourth-seeded Murray, meanwhile, defeated France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in just under two hours at Hisense Arena.
Murray, who appeared in the last two finals here, including a loss to Djokovic a year ago, is playing his first major event with the legendary Ivan Lendl as his coach.
"It's been good, he's obviously one of the greatest players ever," Murray said. "He's got so much experience and he's a very funny guy. You wouldn't probably expect it by the way he was on the court, similar to myself."
The three-time Grand Slam runner-up Murray will tangle with French left-hander Michael Llodra in his next match.
In the most-anticipated match of the day, the unseeded former No. 1 Hewitt topped a 15th-seeded former top-ranked Roddick 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, as the American retired because of a right hamstring injury.
Roddick summoned the doctor and a trainer after the third set. He fell to the court in the opening set, but played on despite being in obvious pain.
"It's a miserable, terrible thing being out there compromised like that," said Roddick, who is a four-time Aussie semifinalist.
"I wanted to see what I could do. You don't really have much time for clarity in that situation. He's a tough guy to play -- he knew what was going on."
Hewitt said the injury situation was "a nightmare for both of us."
"Obviously he stretched something," Hewitt said. "It's not easy for the person up the other end of the court. It's hard to concentrate when they're having injury timeouts.
"Andy's a great competitor -- he's similar to me. He plays with his heart on his sleeve, has that never-say-die attitude as well. It's never easy to play injured or to pull out of a match. It's not a good feeling."
Hewitt and Roddick have now split 14 career matchups. Hewitt also beat his fellow former U.S. Open champ in the 2005 Aussie semis.
The two-time major champion and '05 Aussie runner-up Hewitt will face rising 23rd-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic here on Saturday. Raonic, who titled in India two weeks ago, downed Germany's Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 on Day 4 of this fortnight.
Fifth-seeded David Ferrer, meanwhile, struggled to get past American Ryan Sweeting, who actually held a two-sets-to-one lead before the Spaniard righted the ship en route to a 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 decision. Sweeting recorded nine double faults and piled up 73 unforced errors in the setback.
Up next for Ferrer will be Argentine veteran Juan Ignacio Chela.
Also on Thursday, France's Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, the tournament's sixth seed, defeated Ricardo Mello of Brazil 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 and ninth-seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic overcame Aussie James Duckworth 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Tsonga will play Portuguese Frederico Gil, while Tipsarevic will face sweet- swinging Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the round of 32 this weekend.
In some action involving a trio of French seeds, Julien Benneteau upset his 12th-seeded countryman Gilles Simon 7-5, 7-6 (10-8), 1-6, 3-6, 6-2, No. 14 Gael Monfils came back to beat capable Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 2-6, 6-0, 6-4, 6-2, and a No. 17 Gasquet handled Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-2, 3-0, as Golubev retired in the third set.
In other second-round action involving seeds, Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin outlasted No. 19 Serb Viktor Troicki 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Japan's best, No. 24 Kei Nishikori, snuck past Aussie Matthew Ebden 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1; Gil grounded No. 26 Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; a No. 27 Chela eased past Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-4, 6-4, 6-3; and Llodra outlasted No. 32 Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 5-7, 6-4.
One other Thursday result saw Mahut defeat Japan's Tatsuma Ito 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, 6-2.
The third round will get underway on Friday, including matches for a pair of all-time greats -- the former world No. 1s Nadal and Federer. The second- seeded Nadal will take on Slovak Lukas Lacko, while the third-seeded Federer will meet massive-serving 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic.
Nadal is the reigning French Open champion and owns 10 Grand Slam titles, including an Aussie Open one in 2009 when he beat Federer here in the final. Federer is a record 16-time men's major titlist, including four championships in Melbourne.
Also on Day 5, seventh-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych will face 30th-seeded Kevin Anderson, 10th-seeded Nicolas Almagro will battle 21st- seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka and 11th-seeded former U.S. Open champ Juan Martin del Potro will be opposed by Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu.
Two other quality matchups will pit 13th-seeded 2011 Aussie Open quarterfinalist Alexandr Dolgopolov against rising Aussie teen and 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Bernard Tomic and 16th-seeded 6-foot-9 American slugger John Isner versus 18th-seeded Feliciano Lopez.
<< Djokovic, Ferrer advance at Aussie Open
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's champ Novak Djokovic and
fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer were both winners on Thursday, advancing to
the third round of the Australian Open.
Djokovic, the tournament's top seed, rolled
<< SDSU escapes The Pit, snaps Lobos' win streak
Albuquerque, NM (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Xavier Thames netted a game-high 22 points,
leading 16th-ranked San Diego State to a 75-70 win over New Mexico on
Wednesday.
Jamaal Franklin finished with 12 points and five rebounds, while Chase
<< UNLV dominates TCU
Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Marshall scored a career-high 27 and
handed out nine assists, leading No. 14 UNLV to a 101-78 throttling of TCU on
Wednesday.
Chace Stanback added 21 points while Mike Moser had 16 and 15 reboun
<< Billups' late trey lifts Clippers over Mavs
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chauncey Billups hit his first "Big Shot"
for the Clippers, draining a go-ahead three-pointer with one second left in
regulation to give Los Angeles a 91-89 victory over the Mavericks, its first
over Da
Kvitova, Sharapova, Serena reach 3rd round in Oz >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Petra Kvitova and
former Australian Open champions and former world No. 1s Maria Sharapova and
Serena Williams posted second-round wins Thursday at the Australian Open.
The Wimb
Colsaerts starts strong at Volvo Golf Champions >>
George, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nicolas Colsaerts fired a nine-under
64 on Thursday to take the opening-round lead of the Volvo Golf Champions
event.
He owns a four-stroke cushion after round one at the par-73 Links at Fancour
Rockets aim to move above .500 against reeling Hornets >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets will aim to climb above .500 for the
first time this season when they resume a three-game homestand by hosting the
struggling New Orleans Hornets.
The Rockets won the opener of the residency and their f
Surprising Jazz entertain Mavs in Salt Lake City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah, perhaps the most surprising team in the Western
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After starting the season 0-2 the Jazz have rattled off ni
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
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Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.
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