Djokovic, Roddick reach third round at Paris Masters

Tennis Betting Lines

10/28/2008 - Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 3 Novak Djokovic and former world No. 1 Andy Roddick were among Tuesday's second-round winners at the $2.9 million Paris Masters -- the ninth and final Masters Series event of the year.

The Australian Open champion Djokovic was leading Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 4-3 when the Russian retired with a right shoulder injury, while seventh-seeded Roddick rolled past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4. Roddick swatted 13 aces at the lefthanded Lopez, who was unable to break the American. Lopez tallied 12 aces in a losing cause.

Ninth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro landed in the round of 16 with a 6-0, 6-4 decision against Croat Mario Ancic, while 16th-seeded French favorite Gael Monfils erased Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco 6-4, 6-4 on the indoor hardcourts at Palais Omnisports Bercy.

Fernando Verdasco cruised in the opening set before facing a stiff challenge from Tommy Robredo. The 15th-seeded Verdasco prevailed in three grueling sets, 6-2, 6-7 (8-6), 6-2 to advance to the third round.

France's Florent Serra, Croatian qualifier Ivan Ljubicic, Czech Radek Stepanek, German Philipp Kohlschreiber and Swede Robin Soderling posted first- round wins here on Day 3. Serra stopped struggling Argentine and fellow lucky loser Guillermo Canas 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, while Soderling, fresh off his title in Lyon last week, handled French wild card Josselin Ouanna 6-3, 6-4.

Argentine star David Nalbandian upset Spanish stalwart Rafael Nadal in last year's final here. This week's top seeds are the Wimbledon, French Open and Olympic champion Nadal, U.S. Open winner and last week's Basel champ Roger Federer, Djokovic and the aforementioned Murray, the 2008 U.S. Open runner- up.

On Wednesday, a bevy of stars will take to the courts for second-rounders, including the top-ranked Nadal, second-seeded Federer, Murray, Nalbandian, and French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet. Nadal will face Serra, while Federer will encounter the surging Soderling, Murray will meet American Sam Querrey and an eighth-seeded Nalbandian will battle German Nicolas Kiefer. Federer beat Nalbandian in last week's Basel finale. Murray has won his last two tournaments, including a Masters Series event in Madrid two weeks ago.

All of this week's 16 seeds received byes into the second round.

The 2008 Paris Masters titlist will collect $450,000.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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