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
06/04/2010 - Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Four-time champion Rafael Nadal and last year's runner-up Robin Soderling will battle in Sunday's men's final at the French Open.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 Nadal toppled 22nd-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer, playing in his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), while the fifth-seeded Soderling outlasted 15th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, also playing in his first-ever major semi, 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 on Friday at Roland Garros.
Soderling shocked an injured Nadal in the fourth round here last year, which halted the Spaniard's run as the four-time champ. Nadal had been 31-0 on the famed red clay before losing to the big-hitting Swede.
Nadal will appear in his fifth final here in six years, seeking a fifth title. Only Bjorn Borg, with six championships, has won more French Open titles than Nadal in the Open Era (since 1968).
The powerful Nadal is a six-time major champion, including four straight French Open titles from 2005-08. He's now 37-1 lifetime at this Parisian major.
Nadal would supplant Roger Federer atop the men's rankings for a second time with a title here this week. The Spaniard is seeking his fourth straight championship on the tour, having recently titled at Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid, a trio of ATP Masters tournaments.
Soderling, meanwhile, will compete in his second straight Roland Garros finale. He lost to the great Federer in last year's French Open finale, but avenged that setback here this week by stunning the super Swiss in the quarterfinals.
Nadal cruised through the first two sets on Day 13, as he broke Melzer a pair of times in an easy first set and tallied two more breaks in the second. Up 5-4 and serving for the match, Nadal had a slight lapse. He lost four consecutive points, including a double-fault to give Melzer the break for 5-5.
The set went to a tiebreaker after both players held serve. A missed overhead by Nadal gave Melzer a quick 2-0 lead in the tiebreak, but Nadal responded with three straight points before back-to-back errors from Melzer gave the Spaniard a pair of match points at 6-4. Melzer, though, saved both -- the second with a perfectly placed drop shot.
A forehand winner gave Nadal his third match point, which he converted when Melzer drilled a shot into the net.
The powerful Nadal, who turned 24 on Thursday, is now 3-0 lifetime against his fellow lefthander Melzer.
Soderling cruised through the first set against Berdych on Friday before the Czech returned the favor for an easy win in the second.
In the third set, Berdych broke Soderling to grab a 6-5 edge and then held his serve to surprisingly go up two-sets-to-one in the slugfest.
In set number four, the big Swede got a big break he needed to secure a 4-2 advantage and would ease his way to a set win after that.
The fifth set opened up with back-to-back breaks, but Soderling would assume control with the biggest break of the bout, as he grabbed a 4-3 lead in the deciding stanza. Soderling then held and broke again to reach a second straight final here. The Swede converted on his first match point on a sunny Friday when Berdych knocked a backhand wide to cap a lengthy match-ending rally.
Soderling advanced in 3 hours, 27 minutes despite being out-aced (21-18), tallying eight double faults, and recording 22 more unforced errors (63-41). The Swede did, however, have two more breaks of serve (6-4), which proved to be the difference in the end.
The 6-foot-4 Soderling is now 5-3 lifetime against the 6-foot-5 Berdych.
Nadal will play in his 52nd career final (39-12) and seek a 40th overall title. He's 3-1 in his 2010 championship tilts.
The 25-year-old Soderling is 5-8 in his career ATP finals, including 1-1 this year. He titled in Rotterdam and lost in the final in Barcelona this season.
Soderling will try to give Sweden its first champion here since Mats Wilander in 1988.
Nadal is 3-2 lifetime against Soderling, including 2-1 at Grand Slams. Soderling beat Nadal in Paris a year ago, but the Spaniard topped the Swede at Roland Garros four years ago and doused Soderling at Wimbledon in 2007. Nadal's 2-1 in their clay-court encounters.
Soderling has won the last two matchups in this series.
Sunday's champ will collect just over $1.3 million.
<< Houston heads across the county to take on L.A.
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three days after suffering a heart wrenching
last-second loss to Red Bull New York in Harrison, NJ, the Houston Dynamo
travel across the country to take on the undefeated Los Angeles Galaxy at The
Home
<< Struggling Wizards visit Red-hot TFC
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Wizards travel to BMO Field to
face Toronto FC on Saturday in hopes of snapping a seven-game winless streak.
Wizards (2-5-2) head coach Peter Vermes has seen his team lose four of its
last
<< UC Davis QB Denham won't play in 2010
Davis, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In a surprising decision, quarterback Greg Denham
of reigning Great West Conference champion UC Davis has decided against
returning for the 2010 season in order to pursue a career in the ministry.
Aggies head coa
<< Artest sets the tone
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If you use the 20/20 vision that hindsight provides, it's
pretty clear why the Los Angeles Lakers lost the 2008 NBA Finals to the Boston
Celtics -- they got punched in the mouth.
The defensive-minded Celtics were simply fa
Belmont Stakes - Bet on one of the "Dudes" >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nick Zito's Ice Box is the 3-1 morning
line favorite for this Saturday's Belmont Stakes, but his come-from-the-clouds
style might not be well-suited to the 1 1/2-mile race.
Only one horse since 1998
Manhattan's Pickett going pro overseas >>
Riverdale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manhattan guard Rico Pickett will leave the
school to pursue a professional career overseas, the school announced Friday.
Pickett was an All-MAAC selection last season as a junior, leading the
confe
NL West: There's no need to freak out on Lincecum >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum loses back-to-back starts and the entire city
of San Francisco goes into a panic.
Oh my word, the two-time defending National League Cy Young honoree is mired
in a slump and may need Life Alert for the rest
Cavaliers GM Ferry resigns >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Danny
Ferry has resigned, the team announced.
Ferry had been the team's GM since June 2005, and the Cavaliers, led by LeBron
James, made the playoffs in every season durin
Super Bowl XLIII is now set, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet each other on February 1st in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to battle it out for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. The game kicks off at 6:00pm ET on NBC with announcers Al Michaels and John Madden covering the on-field action. Super Bowl XLIII betting odds at online bookmaker MySportsbook.com have the Steelers listed as an early -6.5 against the spread favorite.Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds
Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.
The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.
The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.
Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.
MySportsbook.com's Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds:
Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)
Arizona Cardinals +6.5 (-110), Under 46.5 (-110), +220 (Money line)
Matt Foust won both of his conference championship plays yesterday and he is ready to serve up plenty of Super Bowl action. Each individual play costs $15.00, however, MySportsbook.com recommends purchasing Matt's NFL Playoff Package which includes all of Matt's Super Bowl props and picks from just $45.00.
Get free Super Bowl XLIII Betting from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online Super Bowl betting with credit cards
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