New No. 1 Sharapova, Serena land in Rome quarters

Tennis Betting Lines

05/15/2008 - Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Newly-appointed world No. 1 Maria Sharapova and former top-ranked star Serena Williams were a pair of third-round winners Thursday at the $1.34 million Italian Open, a clay-court French Open tuneup.

The second-seeded Australian Open champion Sharapova got past Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), while a fifth-seeded Serena drilled Italian wild card Sara Errani 6-4, 6-3 on Day 4 at Foro Italico.

Sharapova will become No. 1 when the newest rankings are released on Monday, following Justine Henin's stunning retirement announcement on Wednesday. It will mark the fourth time the Russian has ascended to the top of the rankings.

The 25-year-old Henin became the first-ever reigning women's world No. 1 to retire from the sport.

Serena captured this Roman event in 2002, while her big sister Venus, who's also in action on Thursday, titled here in 1999 and was the runner-up in 1998.

A big Day-4 upset came when French qualifier Alize Cornet cut down third- seeded 2007 Rome runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-4. The U.S. Open runner- up Kuznetsova, of Russia, gave way to Serbian star Jelena Jankovic in last year's finale here.

A fourth-seeded Jankovic avoided an upset on Thursday by dismantling Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-1.

In other third-round action, sixth-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze snuck past 12th-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 1-6, 6-1, ninth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder overcame eighth-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli, of France, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7), and Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova was leading Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 1-0 when the Belarusian wild card retired with a left knee injury.

This year's Rome titlist will collect $196,900.

<< Nats use defense to nip Mets
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Willie Harris made a spectacular diving catch in left field to rob the Mets of a potential tying run in the ninth inning, and the Nationals doubled Carlos Beltran off third base to end the game to hold on

<< Scoreless streak over, but Tribe clip A's
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aaron Laffey threw seven solid innings and the Indians continued their mastery on the mound until holding on in the ninth during a 4-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics to complete a three-game sweep.

<< Green, Singh share Irish Open lead
Adare, Limerick, Ireland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Richard Green and Jeev Milkha Singh opened with matching rounds of six-under-par 66 Thursday to share the lead after the first round of the Irish Open at Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Res

<< Federer, Nadal, Djokovic ease into Hamburg QFs
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

<< Shoulder injury to sideline Cavs' Gibson
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson will miss the next 1-2 weeks of action due to a shoulder injury, possibly keeping him out the remainder of the playoffs. Gibson left Wednesday's 96-89 loss at Bost

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

Energie signs coach Prasnikar to extension >>
Cottbus, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Energie Cottbus coach Bojan Prasnikar has signed a new contract running until the summer of 2010 after guiding the club to Bundesliga survival. The Slovenian was drafted in by Cottbus in September to ta


Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.