Nadal wins in straight sets in New York

Tennis Betting Lines

08/31/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal was a straight-set winner over Teymuraz Gabashvili in the opening round of the U.S. Open, while former runner-up Novak Djokovic and surging American Mardy Fish were a pair of hard-fought winners.

Nadal, the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion who is seeking his third straight Grand Slam title and first-ever trip into the U.S. Open final, needed just under three hours to advance into the second round to set up a match with Denis Istomin, who beat Maximo Gonzalez, 7-5, 7-5, 6-1.

The eight-time major champion Nadal was able to dominate Gabashvili's second serve, winning 51 percent of the points on his opponent's lesser serve. He fired 30 winners and seven aces in the 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory.

Djokovic outlasted fellow Serb Viktor Troicki 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Djokovic, as he has in the past, struggled mightily amid some very hot conditions here on Day 2, as on-court temperatures soared well over 100 degrees.

But the third seed held on and prevailed in 3 hours, 40 minutes, despite a 23- ace barrage from the capable Troicki.

This marked Djokovic's 11th career five-set win.

The former Australian Open champion Djokovic was the 2007 U.S. Open runner- up to Roger Federer.

Up next for Djokovic will be talented German Philipp Petzschner.

The 19th-seeded Fish needed all five sets to get past game Czech Jan Hajek 6-0, 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 on the grounds at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The Minnesota native Fish moved on in 2 hours, 36 minutes on the Grandstand Court.

"I was lucky to turn it around and play a little more aggressive," Fish said. "I was playing a little too defensive."

Fish has now won 17 of his last 19 matches, including a pair of titles and a runner-up finish against the great Federer in Cincinnati.

Other top-10 seeds who advanced were eighth-seeded Fernando Verdasco, who topped Fabio Fognini 1-6, 7-5, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, and 10th-seeded David Ferrer, who beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

The first eye-catching upset of the fortnight came when French veteran Arnaud Clement cut down 16th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in five sets, 6-3, 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Clement advanced in 3 hours, 27 minutes against his fellow former Australian Open runner-up Baghdatis. who swatted 22 aces, but also tallied 48 unforced errors in a losing effort.

Baghdatis reached a U.S. Open Series final in Washington, D.C. several weeks ago.

Also advancing was American James Blake, who has made it to the third round in each of the last seven times he's participated in this tournament. Blake beat Kristof Vliegen 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Canadian Peter Polansky knocked out 30th-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Additionally Julien Benneteau defeated 28th-seeded Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

In other action involving seeds, No. 23 Feliciano Lopez of Spain handled Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and France's Jeremy Chardy took out No. 24 Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4. No. 31 David Nalbandian beat Rik De Voest 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4.

Argentine Eduardo Schwank dismissed former U.S. Open semifinalist Robby Ginepri of the United States 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3.

Additional first-round wins came for Petzschner, Spaniard Tommy Robredo, Pablo Cuevas, Benoit Paire, Florent Serra, Adrian Mannarino, Benjamin Becker, Istomin and Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

The 2010 U.S. Open champion will collect at least $1.7 million.

Aaacyberbookie Tennis Betting News

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.