Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
02/18/2012 - Rotterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer needed three sets and two hours, 15 minutes, but the Swiss world No. 3 took down Russian Nikolay Davydenko to advance to the final at the ABN AMRO World tournament.
Top-seeded Federer lost a tightly-contested set early but rallied after dropping a break in the second set to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second of Saturday's semifinals in Rotterdam.
Davydenko, formerly world No. 3 himself, had won just one match in 2012 entering the tournament, an opening-round bout at Montpellier. He had faced Federer in Doha to begin his season, a much more one-sided affair that the Swiss won 6-2, 6-2 in just 54 minutes. Federer owned a 16-2 overall record against Davydenko entering this encounter.
He had a reason to be concerned in this match, however. After losing the first set, Federer quickly fell behind 1-3 in the second. His championship instincts took over, though, and he would win the next five points, launching a message-sending ace to end the set.
The third set was just as tight as the first, but Davydenko was not as lucky this time, dropping one of the seven break chances he offered. Federer saved all four of his as he booked a ticket to the final, where he will face Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
The third-seeded del Potro needed just 75 minutes in a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Tomas Berdych in the first semifinal.
Berdych had lost just once this season entering Saturday's match. After a quarterfinal setback to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, he won the title in Montpellier two weeks ago and last week won his lone match in the Czech Republic's victory over Italy in the Davis Cup.
Seeded second this week, Berdych had also steamrolled through his first three opponents without dropping a set. It all changed on Saturday.
Del Potro opened the match with a break of serve and didn't face a break point during the first set. Berdych, meanwhile, struggled with his serve, connecting on just 52 percent in the first set. He was called for a foot fault for a double fault to set up del Potro's clinching break point to finish off the opening set.
Again, del Potro picked up an early break in the second set for a 2-0 edge. But Berdych won three of the first four points in the next game to gain two break points. He squandered both and del Potro's ace closed out the game for a 3-0 lead.
Berdych appeared deflated afterward, again dropping his serve. He went down 0-5 before finally winning a game, but del Potro quickly wrapped it up and improved to 3-1 lifetime against Berdych.
Del Potro, the 2009 U.S. Open champ, will be gunning for his 10th career title on Sunday. He is 9-4 all-time in finals, including 2-1 last year when he made a successful comeback from a wrist injury that sidelined him for most of the 2010 campaign.
Federer won the Rotterdam title the last time he appeared in the tournament, back in 2005. He has yet to win an ATP title in 2012.
The 2012 Rotterdam winner will collect $385,000.
<< Elliott, Blues shut out Wild
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Saturday might have been the easiest shutout
of Brian Elliott's NHL career.
The 26-year-old netminder needed to make just 13 saves to record his sixth
shutout of the season and 15th of his career as t
<< No. 3 Missouri rolls over Texas A&M
College Station, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kim English had 21 points to lead four
Missouri players in double figures, as the third-ranked Tigers beat Texas A&M,
71-62, on Saturday.
Michael Dixon totaled 15 points and six assists for Misso
<< Louisville dominates DePaul in OT
Rosemont, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Kuric scored a season-high 25 points and
19th-ranked Louisville used a dominant overtime to subdue DePaul, 90-82,
at Allstate Arena.
Chris Smith and Russ Smith had 20 and 16 points, respecti
<< Miller lifts FSU past NC State
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ian Miller scored 17 points to lift No. 20
Florida State to a 76-62 win over North Carolina State at RBC Center.
Bernard James had 12 points and six rebounds while Michael Snaer added 10
points, five
Juve turns back Catania to go top >>
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Juventus returned to the Serie A summit on
Saturday after securing a 3-1 win over Catania at home.
Juve had played to a pair of 0-0 draws in its last two matches and fell behind
inside of four minutes as
Feyenoord denied by late Braber goal >>
Rotterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Feyenoord was denied three points on
Saturday in the 87th minute when RKC Waalwijk's Robert Braber scored the
equalizer in a 1-1 draw at De Kuip Stadion.
Feyenoord was in position to claim a f
Debuchy returns Lille to the win column >>
Lorient, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lille brought an end to its poor run of
results on Saturday as Mathieu Debuchy's goal in the 76th minute gave the club
a 1-0 win at Lorient.
A 5-4 defeat to Bordeaux last time out left Lille with just
Benzema's brace helps Real cruise past Racing >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Karim Benzema netted a goal in each half as
Real Madrid coasted to a 4-0 win over Racing at the Santiago Bernabeu on
Saturday.
The result stretches Madrid's lead to 13 points over second-place Barce
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting