Tipsarevic ousts Roddick in second round at U.S. Open

Tennis Betting Lines

09/02/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Andy Roddick suffered one of his earliest exits at the U.S. Open, falling to Serbian Janko Tipsarevic in four sets in a second-round encounter Wednesday night.

The ninth-seeded Roddick, who is the last American man to win a Grand Slam singles title by capturing the U.S. Open in 2003, had reached at least the third round each of the last four years. But on Wednesday night on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Tipsarevic had all the answers by beating Roddick thanks to a fabulous serve.

Tipsarevic, whose best result at a Grand Slam is the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2007, captured a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory. Tipsarevic fired 16 aces, one less than his opponent. The Serbian also had 66 winners.

Despite struggling with balky ankles during the match, Tipsarevic was able to use strong net play to top Roddick in the tiebreaker. He scored a mini-break for a 3-2 lead when Roddick hit a return long. Later, on match point, Tipsarevic added a net winner to finish the battle at the stroke of midnight. It's the best result for Tipsarevic at the U.S. Open in this his seventh time playing in Flushing Meadows.

"I was playing really well, serving really well, trying not to finish the point too early, just finding my momentum in the right game," Tipsarevic said.

Because of Roddick's exit, the only ex-champion still in the field is Roger Federer. The second-seeded Federer, the champion here from 2004-08 plays his second-round match against Germany's Andreas Beck on Thursday. Roddick was the runner-up to Federer in 2006.

Former runner-up Andy Murray was an easy opening-round winner Wednesday on a hot day at the Open. The fourth-seeded Murray mauled helpless Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 51 minutes on yet another scorching day in the Big Apple. The British star doused Lacko with the help of six service breaks in the predictable encounter at Ashe Stadium, where the on-court temperature soared over 100 degrees for a third straight day.

"It was good," Murray said of his opener. "It wasn't necessarily the best tennis, but tricky conditions out there. It was very windy on the court. It was a guy I've never played against on the tour. I haven't really seen much of him play, so took a little time to get used to his game. But I did enough to win in straight sets, and that was the most important thing."

Murray was the 2008 U.S. Open runner-up to Swiss icon Federer and also lost to Federer in this year's Australian Open title tilt.

Up next for Murray will be rising 6-foot-5 Jamaican Dustin Brown.

In another second-round encounter, 17th-seeded Gael Monfils topped Igor Andreev, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.

An eye-catching upset came when tough French lefthander Michael Llodra ousted seventh-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4 in 2 hours, 26 minutes. Llodra required a trainer to work on his foot during the second set, but the Frenchman returned to the court, unfazed by the ailment.

The stunned Berdych was unable to break Llodra's quality serve on Day 3.

The 6-foot-5 Berdych reached the semifinals at the French Open back in June and landed in his first career Grand Slam final at the All England Club in July, losing to world No. 1 superstar Rafael Nadal. The big Czech had been 11-2 in his previous 13 Grand Slam matches.

American teenager Ryan Harrison, making his U.S. Open debut, upset 15th-seeded former top-five star Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4, while 20th-seeded American Sam Querrey got past NCAA champion and fellow American Bradley Klahn 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Ljubicic, a Masters event champion at Indian Wells earlier this season, struggled against the intense heat and the 18-year-old Harrison. Querrey is a four-time champion on the ATP World Tour this year.

Russian Mikhail Youzhny, the 12th seed, blew past Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. Fourteenth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro came from behind to best Italian Potito Starace, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), while No. 18 seed John Isner of the U.S. upended Frederico Gil of Portugal, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Also, 25th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka waltzed past Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, the 29th seed, defeated fellow countryman Tobias Kamke, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Additional opening-round wins came for the aforementioned Brown, Frenchman Gilles Simon, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, Israel's Dudi Sela, Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli, Romanian Victor Hanescu and Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The hot Stakhovsky, who topped Aussie Peter Luczak in four sets on Wednesday, is fresh off his hardcourt title in New Haven last week.

The 2010 U.S. Open titlist will claim at least $1.7 million.

Wwwsunsentinel Tennis Betting News

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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