08/26/2008 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic, former top-ranked star Serena Williams and Venus Williams were among Tuesday's first- round winners at the U.S. Open.
The Serbian Ivanovic, who's battled a thumb injury in recent weeks, snuck past Russian Vera Dushevina 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 on a beautiful sunny day at this Big Apple fortnight. A fourth-seeded Serena, meanwhile, subdued Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-1, 6-4.
Ivanovic appeared to be cruising on Day 2, up a set and leading 4-2 in the second, but some sloppy play allowed her Russian counterpart to sneak into the match.
Dushevina fought back to claim the second set and was leading 3-2 in the third before Ivanovic righted the ship. The Serbian star went on to capture the third by converting on a third match point after 2 hours, 3 minutes of uneventful tennis.
Ivanovic is the reigning French Open champ and was this year's runner-up at the Australian Open. She's played in three of the last six major finals.
Up next for Ivanovic will be little-known Frenchwoman Julie Coin.
The eight-time major titlist Serena handled Bondarenko in a mere 57 minutes, capping the win with a second match point. The powerful American captured the U.S. Open in 1999 and 2002 and was the runner-up here in 2001.
Seventh-seeded Venus, who is a two-time U.S. Open champ, had no problems against Australian Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-3. Venus owns seven major titles, including the last two Wimbledons.
Ivanovic and Serena were joined in the second round by surging Russian star Dinara Safina, who handled American teenager Kristie Ahn 6-3, 6-4 on the grounds at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The sixth-seeded Safina was the French Open runner-up to Ivanovic and the runner-up at the Olympic tennis tournament two weeks ago.
Safina, the younger sister of 2000 men's U.S. Open champion Marat Safin, will face Italian Roberta Vinci in the round of 64.
Ninth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland cruised with a 6-4, 6-2 pasting of Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, while an upset came when former Top-20 German Anna-Lena Groenefeld grounded 11th-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2. The former Top-10 Hantuchova has now dropped eight of her last 12 matches and hasn't won back-to-back matches since March.
In other action involving Top-16 seeds, No. 13 Hungarian Agnes Szavay topped American Gail Brodsky 7-5, 6-3 and No. 16 Italian Flavia Pennetta overcame Swiss Stefanie Vogele 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
No. 17 seed Alize Cornet of France dispatched compatriot Camille Pin 7-5, 6-0; No. 18 seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia bested American Jill Craybas 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and 19th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova brushed aside France's Olivia Sanchez 6-2, 6-4 at the fourth and final major of the year.
Additional seeded victors were No. 20 Czech Nicole Vaidisova, No. 27 Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko, No. 30 Japanese Ai Sugiyama and No. 32 Amelie Mauresmo, while Swiss Timea Bacsinszky upended 31st-seeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-1.
Other first-round winners were the aforementioned Coin, Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru, Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh and Yung-Jan Chan, Chinese Shuai Peng, Aussie Jessica Moore, Italians Vinci and Tathiana Garbin, Belarussian Olga Govortsova, Germany's Sabine Lisicki, Paraguayan Rossana De Los Rios, Estonian Kaia Kanepi, France's Severine Bremond, American Bethanie Mattek, Russian Elena Vesnina and Colombian Mariana Duque Marino.
<< Federer advances at U.S. Open
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In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere.
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
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