Federer gains seventh straight U.S. Open semifinal
Tennis Betting Lines
09/09/2010 -
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer advanced to his seventh
straight U.S. Open semifinal by avenging a loss earlier this year to Swede
Robin Soderling with a three-set triumph Wednesday night.
The second-seeded Federer, attempting to win the tournament for the sixth
time, earned a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 victory over the fifth-seeded Soderling in windy
conditions in the final match of the night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Next up for the super Swiss will be third seed Novak Djokovic, who took out
17th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, 6-2, in the day session.
Federer, who owns a men's record 16 major titles, including this year's Aussie
Open crown, fired 18 aces to just two for his opponent. Federer won points on
50 of his 58 first serves and had 36 winners.
"If I can't serve in the wind I've got a problem here," Federer said. "You
could wake me up at two in the morning or 4 in the morning, I can hit serves.
It's what we do and I'm so happy it worked so well tonight."
Soderling, the reigning two-time French Open runner-up who snapped Federer's
streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances by winning in
the quarterfinals at Roland Garros earlier this year, had just 16 winners and
couldn't solve the gusty conditions or his opponent's serve.
Federer, who lost to Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in last year's final
here and was the U.S. Open champ from 2004-08, has not dropped a set yet at
this fortnight. He moved to 13-1 all-time against Soderling, also beating him
in last year's U.S. Open quarters and last year's French Open finale. This was
their fifth straight meeting in a Grand Slam tourney.
A great drop shot gave Federer a break of serve in the first set for a 4-3
lead. Soderling was 0-for-4 on break point chances in the set and Federer held
at love his final two service games.
In the second set, Federer was actually broken in the fourth game to square
the set at 2-2. But he broke back on a passing shot and later used an ace down
the middle to finish off the set.
A wide forehand from Federer gave Soderling a break in the third for a 5-3
lead, but Federer won the final four games, thanks in part to mistakes from
the Swede. Soderling barked at himself after failing to come up with a return
at the net as the set was soon evened at 5-5.
Soderling then fought off one break point, but a backhand wide gave Federer
the big advantage for a 6-5 lead, putting the match on his racquet. He held at
love in the final game, fittingly ending the encounter with an ace.
Earlier in the day, a tough first set went to Djokovic when Monfils played a
rather poor tiebreak, and the second set was a throw-away one for the
Frenchman, as the Serb simply dominated the stanza.
In the third set, Monfils had a chance to break Djokovic to pull within 3-4
and then serve to tie things up, but the Serb managed a key hold to go up 5-2
and then broke his French counterpart to reach the semis.
Djokovic moved on in 2 hours, 28 minutes, as he broke Monfils no less than
seven times en route to victory. The Serb tallied 13 more unforced errors
(50-37) on Day 10 of the fortnight, but he also connected for 21 more winners
(38-17).
The 23-year-old Djokovic is now a perfect 5-0 lifetime against Monfils,
including a first-round win here in New York back in 2005.
The former world No. 2 Djokovic will perform in his fourth U.S. Open and ninth
career Grand Slam semifinal (2-6). The steady Serbian star was the 2007 U.S.
Open runner-up to the great Federer and captured the Aussie Open championship
in 2008.
Federer is 10-5 all-time against Djokovic, including a straight-set semifinal
victory at the U.S. Open a year ago. In fact, Federer has eliminated the
Serbian in Flushing Meadows each of the last three years.
Two more quarterfinals will be staged here on Thursday, when top-ranked Rafael
Nadal meets eighth-seeded fellow Spanish lefthander Fernando Verdasco and
12th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny takes on 25th-seeded Swiss Stanislas
Wawrinka. Nadal is the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champ and owns eight
major titles overall, but he still needs a U.S. Open one to complete a rare
men's career Grand Slam. Youzhny reached the final four here back in 2006.
Nadal is a laughable 10-0 lifetime against Verdasco, including 2-0 in Grand
Slam events.
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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
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NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams
NFL Betting
It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.
We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.
Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.
Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.
Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.
NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.
The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash. NFL Wagering
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
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