Open Carries Ferrer With Clijsters

Tennis Betting Lines

Ninth-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli handled fellow Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 7-5, 6-0, while German Sabine Lisicki, the 14th seed, advanced with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win against Swiss Stefanie Voegele and 15th-seeded capable Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bested Czech Klara Zakopalova 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

 

Several other women reached the round of 64, including Israeli Shahar Peer, Americans Vania King and Sloane Stephens, Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak, Chinese Zheng Jie, and Aussie favorite Jelena Dokic, who drubbed Russian and fellow former top-10 star Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-1. Zheng drilled American Madison Keys 6-2, 6-1, while King defeated Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 and Stephens stopped Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-4, 6-2.

 

The second round will get underway on Wednesday, including matches for world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, third-seeded Victoria Azarenka, fifth-seeded 2011 Aussie Open runner-up and French Open champion Li Na and 11th-seeded reigning Melbourne titlist Kim Clijsters.

 

Clijsters beat Li in last year's Aussie finale.

 

The 24-year-old Djokovic lost two of the first three games to Italy's Paolo Lorenzi, then won a whopping 17 in a row to finish off a commanding 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win at the season's first Grand Slam event.

 

Meanwhile, a fourth-seeded Murray, who lost in straight sets to Djokovic in last year's Aussie final, needed four sets to down promising American Ryan Harrison, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

 

And American Andy Roddick, a four-time Aussie semifinalist who is seeded 15th at this particular fortnight, had little trouble in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 win over Dutchman Robin Haase.

 

"It took me, you know, a couple games to get into the right rhythm," Djokovic said. "It's a bit difficult conditions. I think it was really the hottest day since I've arrived here, so I'm trying to get used to that."

 

Djokovic, of course, began his brilliant 2011 season with a victory at the Australian Open, finishing the year with a 70-6 record. He didn't lose last year until Roger Federer got him in the semifinals at the French Open in June.

Cbaaports Tennis Betting Blog

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.