Safina to play Dementieva for gold; Djokovic wins bronze

Tennis Betting Lines

08/16/2008 - Beijing, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It'll be an all-Russian affair in the women's singles title match at the Olympics after Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva won their semifinal contests on Saturday.

The sixth-seeded Safina overcame a doubles match loss that lasted until 3:35 a.m. the previous night to score a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 win over Li Na of China. The singles match took 2 hours, 10 minutes to complete.

Dementieva, the fifth seed, dispatched ninth seed Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in another all-Russian semifinal. Dementieva will have a chance to win gold after capturing a silver eight years ago in Sydney.

In men's play, James Blake took out top seed Roger Federer on Thursday, but now the American will go home without any Olympic hardware after falling to Serbian Novak Djokovic in the bronze medal match, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Friday night, Yan Zi teamed with Zheng Jie to beat Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova in a doubles match that went deep into the night, but Safina pulled through a day later to get a chance at Olympic gold.

"It was not easy," said Safina. "I didn't sleep enough. I'm just really happy that I could put all my energy into the match and pull the match out."

Safina took advantage of 69 unforced errors by Li to advance to play for the gold medal on Sunday. Safina also overcame 12 double faults, including four in the sixth game of the first set and the same in the fifth game of the second.

"It's unbelievable," said Dementieva of Russia being guaranteed a gold in women's singles. "It's a huge moment for our country and I'm sure all the fans in Russia will be happy about it."

Safina is 5-2 all-time against Dementieva.

Kuznetsova will play Li on Sunday for the bronze.

As for the eighth-seeded Blake, he blew up with a verbal attack on Fernando Gonzalez following their semifinal match on Friday, and a day later lost to the third-seeded Djokovic.

Twin brothers and No. 1 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan won the bronze medal in men's doubles, defeating France's Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In women's doubles, the American sisters of Venus and Serena Williams are through to the final after beating Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.