05/15/2008 - Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The world's top-three stars -- Swiss Roger Federer, Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Serbian Novak Djokovic -- were all straight-set third-round winners Thursday at the $2.955 million Masters Series Hamburg, a clay-court French Open tuneup.
The top-seeded reigning Hamburg champion Federer drilled Swede Robin Soderling for a sixth straight time, 6-3, 6-2, while the second-seeded three- time French Open titlist Nadal handled 15th-seeded Brit Andy Murray by an identical 6-3, 6-2 score, and the third-seeded Australian Open champion Djokovic got past 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 on Day 5 at Rothenbaum. The high-flying Djokovic was last week's clay-court champ in Rome.
The reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Federer beat the clay-court king Nadal in last year's Hamburg finale to record his fourth title here in six years (2002, 2004-05, 2007). Nadal topped Federer in a clay-court finale in Monte Carlo just last month.
Nadal must finish one round better than Djokovic this week in order to retain his world No. 2 ranking.
Federer's quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be Spanish lefthander Fernando Verdasco, while Nadal will encounter his good friend, 11th-seeded Spaniard Carlos Moya, and Djokovic will meet unseeded Spaniard Albert Montanes. Verdasco toppled fifth-seeded fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, while Moya edged out fellow former world No. 1 Marat Safin, of Russia, 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, and Montanes mauled Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-2, 6-1. Safin, a rare qualifier this week, reached finals here back in 2000 and 2002.
Friday's other quarter will pit heavy German crowd favorite Nicolas Kiefer against Italian Andreas Seppi, as Kiefer upended fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 6-3 and Seppi knocked off 12th-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 6-0, 6-3.
<< Queen Justine bids farewell
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of tennis' greatest champions abruptly
called it a career this week, as Justine Henin decided she'd had enough of the
tennis lifestyle at only 25 years of age.
Much like Bjorn Borg in the early 1980s,
<< Coburn, Roberts out for Game 4
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia defenseman Braydon Coburn and
Pittsburgh forward Gary Roberts will miss tonight's Game 4 of the Eastern
Conference finals at the Wachovia Center.
Coburn took a puck to the face early
<< Barcelona and MLS establish multi-year partnership
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Soccer announced Thursday it has
entered into a multi-year partnership with Barcelona, one of the world's most
popular and celebrated professional soccer clubs.
The new, five-year partnership -
<< Dodgers 3B DeWitt scratched from lineup
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Blake
DeWitt was a late scratch from the lineup for Thursday's game against the
Milwaukee Brewers after experiencing lower back pain.
Everyday catcher Russell Ma
Paterno hospitalized for dehydration >>
University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Penn State legendary football head
coach Joe Paterno was taken by ambulance to Mount Nittany Medical Center on
Thursday due to an apparent case of dehydration.
The Centre Daily Times reports
Celtic legend Burns dies at 51 >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic legend Tommy Burns, 51, died on
Thursday morning after losing his long battle with cancer.
The former Scotland international, who played more than 400 games for Celtic
between 1975 and 1989, h
United's Ferdinand officially signs five-year deal >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United defender Rio
Ferdinand has finally signed a new five-year contract which will effectively
keep him at Old Trafford for the rest of his career.
The 29-year-old England inte
Rockies' Cook, Francis on opposite ends >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Aaron Cook is responsible
for 40 percent of his team's wins this season. Now raise your hand if you
thought that would be the circumstance by mid-May.
If you did raise your hand then
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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