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01/15/2007 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1s Amelie Mauresmo and Serena Williams highlighted the opening-day winners at the 2007 Australian Open. Mauresmo is the defending champion here in Melbourne.
The second-seeded Mauresmo got past American Shenay Perry 6-3, 6-4, while an unseeded Williams waltzed past 27th-seeded Italian Mara Santangelo 6-2, 6-1 in first-round action at Melbourne Park.
Mauresmo, a runner-up here in 1999, beat Belgian star Justine Henin-Hardenne in last year's Aussie finale. It marked the Frenchwoman's first-ever Grand Slam title. Mauresmo also went on to beat Henin-Hardenne in last year's Wimbledon championship match.
Up next for the sweet-swinging Mauresmo will be Russian Olga Poutchkova.
The seven-time major titlist Williams, the best American hope here among the women, doused a helpless Santangelo 6-2, 6-1. Williams is seeking her first Grand Slam title since she ran the table here in Melbourne two years ago. She also captured this event in 2003 and has won the Aussie Open in two of her last three trips Down Under.
Williams' second-round opponent will be Luxembourg's Anne Kremer.
In addition to Mauresmo, four other top-10 seeds advanced on Day 1. No. 3 Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova clobbered Aussie Jessica Moore 6-2, 6-0; No. 5 Russian Nadia Petrova pasted Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-2; No. 7 Russian Elena Dementieva drubbed France's Stephanie Foretz 6-1, 6-2; and No. 10 Czech Nicole Vaidisova outlasted veteran American Jill Craybas 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. The former U.S. Open champion Kuznetsova was last year's French Open runner-up to Henin-Hardenne.
In other top-20 action, 11th-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic improved to 10-1 this season by drilling Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-3, 6-3; 14th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone dismissed German Sandra Kloesel 6-4, 6-4; 16th- seeded Israeli Shahar Peer blew out Italian Romina Oprandi 6-1, 6-3; 18th- seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli dismantled Russian Vera Dushevina 6-0, 6-3; and 20th-seeded Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin grounded Israeli Anna Smashnova 6-3, 6-1.
Other seeded winners were No. 21 Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik, No. 23 Japanese Ai Sugiyama and No. 26 Russian Maria Kirilenko. Mild upsets came when Russian Elena Vesnina took out 25th-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-7 (7-9), 6-1, 6-1 and German Julia Schruff shut down 31st-seeded Chinese Jie Zheng 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.
Several other non-seeds advanced to the round of 64, including Argentine Gisela Dulko, the aforementioned Kremer and Poutchkova, and American Meilen Tu.
<< Mauresmo advances to second round of Australian Open
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two more seeded players joined
reigning champion Amelie Mauresmo after first-round play of the Australian
Open.
The second-seeded Mauresmo handled American Shenay Perry 6-3, 6-4, settin
<< Merriweather leads East past West in Hula Bowl
Honolulu, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clemson's Reggie Merriweather scored on a
one-yard touchdown run with just 44 seconds remaining to help the East top the
West, 18-10, in the Hula Bowl from Aloha Stadium.
That score brought the East with
<< Iverson guides Nuggets past Blazers
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Allen Iverson posted 32 points and nine
assists, as the Denver Nuggets downed the division-rival Portland Trail
Blazers, 109-93, at The Rose Garden.
Steve Blake netted a career-high 25 points fo
<< Brooks' lay-in lifts Ducks past Wildcats
Tucson, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Brooks hit the game-winning layup, as a
pair of high-scoring Pac-10 powers collided in Tucson, with the
15th-ranked Oregon Ducks edging the 10th-ranked Arizona Wildcats, 79-77.
Oregon we
Federer, Roddick advance; Fish ousts Ljubicic in Melbourne >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Roger Federer and
former world No. 1 Andy Roddick were a pair of first-round winners, while
fourth-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic was sent packing Monday by American Mardy
Fish at the Aust
Nadal, Blake ready for openers in Melbourne >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Day 2 at the 2007 Australian Open
will feature first-round matches for 16 seeded men, including two-time French
Open champion Rafael Nadal and last week's Sydney titlist James Blake.
The second-seeded
Phillies come to terms with Madson, Alfonseca >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies avoided
arbitration with right-hander Ryan Madson and have agreed to a minor league
deal with free agent reliever Antonio Alfonseca.
The Philadelphia Inquirer report
Sharapova, Clijsters, Hingis ready for Aussie openers >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. Open champion Maria Sharapova
and her fellow former world No. 1s Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis will be
among the women seeing opening-round action Tuesday at the 2007 Australian
Open.
The to
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
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Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
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