Wozniacki, Sharapova roll; Jankovic exits U.S. Open

Tennis Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded 2009 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki and former champion Maria Sharapova were easy third-round winners, while former finalist Jelena Jankovic went by way of the upset Saturday at the U.S. Open.

The red-hot Wozniacki dismantled Taipei's Yung-Jan Chan 6-1, 6-0 in 73 minutes at Armstrong Stadium, while the 14th-seeded former world No. 1 Sharapova double-bageled helpless American teenager Beatrice Capra 6-0, 6-0, also in 73 minutes, at Ashe Stadium. Sharapova lost to an American teenager, Melanie Oudin, in the third round here a year ago, but history did not even come close to repeating itself on Saturday.

Wozniacki and the three-time major champion Sharapova will meet in a blockbuster fourth-round match here. The 23-year-old Sharapova is 2-0 lifetime against the 20-year-old Dane, with both matches coming in 2008.

The Russian Sharapova captured her U.S. Open title back in 2006. Wozniacki lost to former top-ranked Belgian star Kim Clijsters in last year's finale in Flushing.

Wozniacki has won 11 straight and 17 of her last 18 matches, including titles in her last two events, in Montreal and New Haven, respectively. The talented Dane is seeking her fourth title in five events overall.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon quarterfinalist Kaia Kanepi stunned the former world No. 1 Jankovic 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The 31st-seeded Estonian dismissed the fourth-seeded Jankovic in 1 hour, 48 minutes, as the Serbian star piled up 41 unforced errors and had her suspect serve broken on five occasions amid very windy conditions on Day 6.

"It was really tough to play tennis, because, I mean, it's tough to serve, tough to hit the balls," Jankovic said. "The balls move all over the place, and I had a really hard time over there. Unfortunately, I lost."

Jankovic lost to American great Serena Williams in the 2008 final here.

German Andrea Petkovic reached the "Sweet 16" without even lifting her racquet on Saturday, as her scheduled opponent, Chinese Peng Shuai, pulled out of the draw, thus giving the German a walkover into the next round.

Bigno Tennis Betting News

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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