Jankovic, Dementieva advance to U.S. Open semis
Tennis Betting Lines
09/02/2008 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second seed Jelena Jankovic and fifth seed Elena Dementieva will meet in the semifinals at the U.S. Open after both posted victories on Tuesday.
The Serbian Jankovic, who was ranked No. 1 in the world for one week last month, defeated 29th seed Sybille Bammer of Austria, 6-1, 6-4. Earlier in the day, Olympic gold medalist Dementieva was an easy quarterfinal winner, besting 15th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-2, 6-3.
Jankovic, a semifinalist here two years ago, had just seven winners, but took advantage of 40 unforced errors from Bammer, who was the first mother since Peruvian Laura Arraya Gildemeister at 1991 Wimbledon to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal.
The fifth-seeded Dementieva won her 11th straight match. The Russian moved on in 1 hour, 16 minutes with the help of five service breaks, compared to only one for Schnyder.
The 26-year-old Dementieva is now 10-7 lifetime against the left handed Schnyder, including 2-0 at the U.S. Open, where the Russian prevailed in a fourth-rounder back in 2005.
Dementieva will appear in her fourth U.S. Open semifinal in nine years. She reached the final here in 2004, but lost to fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
"It feels much better to win in two sets," said Dementieva. "I remember me being in the final here, but I had such tough matches. It's very tough physically to be ready to play at your best in the final."
The two-time major finalist Dementieva was last month's gold medal winner at the Beijing Games, reached the quarterfinals at the French Open in June, and was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in July.
The other quarters will pit fourth-seeded Serena Williams against seventh- seeded Venus Williams and sixth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina versus 16th- seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta on Wednesday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Serena and Venus have advanced to their 24th and 29th Grand Slam singles quarterfinals, respectively. This is the 17th time both sisters have appeared in the quarterfinals of the same Grand Slam event; in a repeat of this year's Wimbledon final, Serena and Venus will take to the court against each other for the 17th time in their careers, with the lifetime head-to-head currently standing at eight wins apiece.
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia is out for the rest of the season after suffering a strained muscle in his right forearm during Monday's 12-6 loss to Seattle. In the fifth inning, the catch
<< O's scratch Guthrie from Wednesday start
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles scratched Jeremy Guthrie
from his scheduled start against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
No replacement was named.
Guthrie, who is 10-11 with a 3.57 earned run average in 29 starts this
<< Federer sneaks into quarterfinals
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It took more than 3 1/2 hours, but
Roger Federer kept alive his quest for a fifth straight U.S. Open title,
earning a fourth-round, five-set victory over 23rd seed Igor Andreev of
Russia.
<< Senators acquire Shannon from Vancouver for Nycholat
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ottawa Senators acquired forward Ryan
Shannon from the Vancouver Canucks for defenseman Lawrence Nycholat on
Tuesday.
The 25-year-old Shannon, who helped Anaheim win the Stanley Cup in 2
<< Utah's Eliapo out with foot injury
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah nose tackle Kenape Eliapo is
expected to miss the next six to eight weeks with a left foot injury, coach
Kyle Whittingham announced Tuesday.
Eliapo, who played in all 13 games for the Ut
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cole Hamels snapped baseball's most shocking winning streak of the season, blanking the Nationals into the eighth inning and keeping the Phillies close in the National League East race with a 4-0 vic
Dodgers' Kershaw brought back up >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Dodgers recalled rookie
pitcher Clayton Kershaw from Triple-A Las Vegas to start Tuesday's game
against San Diego.
The 20-year-old was optioned to Las Vegas following his last start, Thursda
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Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ian Snell threw six innings and the
Pittsburgh Pirates snapped a 10-game skid with a 3-2 victory over the
Cincinnati Reds.
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Blue Jays come back to upend Twins >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lyle Overbay's two-run homer in the sixth
inning put Toronto ahead for good and the Blue Jays went on to a 7-5 win over
the Minnesota Twins in the opener of a three-game series.
Jose Bautista hit a two-r
Pedroia, Ortiz lead BoSox to huge win over O's >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dustin Pedroia homered and drove in five runs
while David Ortiz finished 3-for-3 and drove in four more as Boston routed
Baltimore, 14-2, in the middle test of a three-game set at Fenway Park.
Jon Lester
Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com
In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.
Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.
Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.
Memphis vs. Ohio State
Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.
UCLA vs. Kansas
In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.
With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action. Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”. By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.
To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards
Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.