Nadal, Federer open with wins Down Under

Tennis Betting Lines

01/16/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former champions Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer highlighted Monday's first-round winners at the first Grand Slam event of the year -- the Australian Open.

The second-seeded Nadal cruised past Ukrainian-born American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 in 1 hour, 46 minutes, while a third-seeded Federer leveled Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryatsev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 38 minutes for his 60th match win at Melbourne Park.

Nadal played with his right knee heavily taped on Monday.

"I was sitting on a chair in the hotel, I felt like a crack on the knee -- really strange," Nadal said. "I stand up. I felt the knee a little bit strange. I moved the leg like this two times to try to find the feeling. After the second time, the knee stays with an unbelievable pain completely straight. I have no movement on the knee."

"I wasn't 100 percent sure I would have a chance to play," Nadal added.

Nadal played Monday after an MRI exam showed no major damage in the knee.

"I started with a little bit of a scare at the beginning, and nervous because I was really disappointed yesterday," the Spaniard said. "But after the first 10 games -- I started to play with normal conditions.

"The best thing is I felt the knee very well. I really don't understand why happened everything, but I am really happy that today I was ready to play and I played a fantastic match."

A healthy Federer also played some fine tennis on Monday.

"No problem, I am happy to be 100 percent fit," Federer said.

Both situated in the bottom half of the draw, Nadal and Federer could only meet in the semifinals next week. The 10-time major champion Nadal beat Federer in the 2009 Aussie finale, while Federer has won four Aussie crowns among his record 16 major titles.

The 30-year-old Federer is trying to become only the second man in the Open era (since 1968) to capture five Aussie titles.

Nadal's second-round opponent on Wednesday will be oft-inured former world No. 2 Tommy Haas, while Federer will encounter German Andreas Beck.

Seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych and No. 8 American Mardy Fish were also among the Day-1 winners on Monday.

Berdych posted a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 decision over Spain's Albert Ramos, popping seven aces and breaking Ramos' serve five times to move on, while Fish rolled to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 straight-set victory over Luxembourg's Gilles Muller. Muller reeled off nine aces in the match, but also committed 39 unforced errors and failed to break the American's serve.

Fish will face Colombian Alejandro Falla in the round of 64.

Tenth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro overcame a first-set defeat to record a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Poland's Lukasz Kubot, while 11th-seeded Argentine slugger Juan Martin del Potro also battled back from an early setback to move on, posting a 2-6, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4 decision over France's Adrian Mannarino. Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, the 13th seed, downed Aussie Greg Jones 1-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

Up next for the former U.S. Open champion del Potro will be Slovenian Blaz Kavcic.

Towering American John Isner, seeded 16th here, handled Aussie Benjamin Mitchell 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); 18th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-6 (7-2); 21st-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka waltzed past France's Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-1, 7-5; and rising Aussie youngster Bernard Tomic fought back to dismiss struggling 22nd- seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.

German Philipp Kohlschreiber took out 25th-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-0; Slovak Lukas Lacko knocked out 28th-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Kevin Anderson of South Africa, the 30th seed, roll past Denmark's Frederik Nielsen 6-1, 6-2, 6-4; and Austria's Jurgen Melzer, the 31st seed, was driven out of the tournament by 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-3.

Meanwhile, American Sam Querrey, on the mend from an elbow injury, swatted South African Kenny De Schepper 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, former Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian of Argentina was leading Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 4-2 when the Finnish veteran retired, and former Aussie Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis downed German Benjamin Becker 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. Baghdatis reached the final here back in 2006. Nalbandian will clash with the 6-foot-9 Isner on Wednesday, while Querrey will battle the rising Tomic.

Italy's Flavio Cipolla outlasted former top-five Russian star Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, the aforementioned Haas got past American Denis Kudla 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-0, 7-5, and American Donald Young earned a 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 1-6, 6-2 victory over German Peter Gojowczyk.

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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.

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