03/02/2007 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed and defending champion James Blake advanced to the quarterfinals in unusual fashion, while second-seeded Australian Lletyon Hewitt and third-seeded Russian Marat Safin survived hard fought three-set matches at the $416,000 Tennis Channel Open.
Blake was leading 6-1, 3-1 when his opponent, Juan Martin del Potro, retired because of breathing problems. Tournament rules state that games won or lost in a walkover do not count, meaning that Blake originally didn't receive credit for the win and was briefly eliminated with Russian Evgeny Korolev, who beat Blake earlier this week, taking his place in the next round. However, ATP officials overruled the call and put the American in the quarterfinals anyway.
"This has troubled me enormously and I feel as though I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't," ATP Executive Chairman and President Etienne de Villiers said. "It's in the interests of the fans, media, tournament and players to find a common sense solution. We have said all along we are going to learn from the experiment."
Del Porto was just as upset from the decision that was first rendered, saying he would have completed the match had he been fully aware of the implications of his retirement.
"I wanted to finish the match, but also I was not aware of the technicality of the rule," del Porto said. "I did not feel comfortable continuing."
Blake will next face Sam Querrey, who held off his fellow American Paul Goldstein 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Hewitt, who lost to Blake in last year's Las Vegas Final, dropped the first set to Swede Thomas Johansson but came back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, while Safin trailed 3-0 in the third set to fellow countryman Igor Kunitsyn only to rally for a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 victory.
Seventh-seeded Brit Tim Henman, making his 2007 season debut this week, will not compete in the quarterfinals after he lost to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-4. Lopez, however, did advance to the round of eight and will square off with Hewitt.
Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, meanwhile, awaits Safin in the quarterfinals.
Fourth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer and unseeded Czech Jan Hernych also landed in the quarters, as Melzer mauled Chilean Paul Capdeville 6-2, 6-2 and Hernych humbled former world No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten 6-4, 6-4. Melzer and Hernych went 2-0 in their round-robin groups this week at Darling Tennis Center. Melzer will meet Hernych in Friday's quarterfinals.
This week's event featured a 32-player round-robin, which consisted of a 16- player "play-off" where eight winners joined 16 other players to make-up eight groups of three players. Each player played two matches in the round-robin stage, with the winner from each group advancing to the quarters, where the tournament will now be played out per a traditional single-elimination format.
<< Kings send Ducks packing in OT
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mike Cammalleri's power-play goal with 1:43
left in overtime sent the Los Angeles Kings over the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3, at
Staples Center.
Alex Frolov, Raitis Ivanans and Jamie Lundmark scored for the Kin
<< UCLA clinches Pac-10 title
Pullman, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arron Afflalo scored 14 points and Josh Shipp
had 12 and second-ranked UCLA held off No. 13 Washington State, 53-45, to
clinch the Pac-10 title outright.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute scored 10 points and A
<< Ferrero cruises into Acapulco semifinals
Acapulco, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero
cruised into the semifinals at the $690,000 Abierto Mexicano Telcel tennis
tournament by scoring a 6-4, 6-1 win over fifth-seeded Argentine Gaston
Gaudio.
<< Naslund lifts Canucks over Coyotes
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Markus Naslund scored the game winner with a
little over four minutes to play to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-3 win
over the Phoenix Coyotes at General Motors Place.
Daniel Sedin had two goals, wh
Reds try to slow United's title chase >>
Liverpool, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With a 16-point deficit staring them
in the face, Liverpool have no illusions of a league title this season.
However, they have a chance to play a big role in who does hoist the trophy as
they ho
Sharks and Ducks meet for showdown in Anaheim >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A key Pacific Division clash will take place tonight at
Anaheim's Honda Center, where the first-place Ducks host the new-look San Jose
Sharks.
Anaheim enters the showdown with 85 points, five more than second-place Dallas
Ancic sidelined with mononucleosis >>
Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 11 tennis star Mario Ancic will
be sidelined for at least the next two months because of mononucleosis.
The 22-year-old Split native, who lost to Andy Roddick in the fourth round at
the Austra
Crosby again aims for mark as Pens visit Carolina >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins will shoot for their second
consecutive victory this evening, when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes at
the RBC Center.
Pittsburgh, which is fifth in the Eastern Conference with 77 point
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
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