Nadal, Murray cruise into third round in New York

Tennis Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Rafael Nadal and fourth- seeded Andy Murray were a pair of easy straight-set winners on Friday in second round action at the 2010 U.S. Open.

Nadal needed 2 hours, 44 minutes to post a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 victory over Denis Istomin to make it into the third round, where the Spaniard will face former Top-10 Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat 29th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.

The eight-time major champion is in search of his first U.S. Open title, which would complete the career Grand Slam. The winner of the season's last two major titles, Nadal has beaten Simon in three of their four matchups, including both times in a major tournament.

Nadal was able to take advantage of Istomin's 40 unforced errors and won 50 of the 60 points on his first serve. He has advanced to at least the third round in 19 straight Grand Slam events.

Murray needed under 1 1/2 hours to dispatch Jamaican Dustin Brown 7-5, 6-3, 6-0, including just an 18-minute third set. The Scot fired 12 aces and 32 winners, winning 90 percent of the points on his first serve.

Arguably the best player in the world without a major championship, Murray -- a two-time major runner-up, including at the 2008 U.S. Open -- will next face 25th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka.

Murray is no stranger to the capable Wawrinka, who beat Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round. The two have faced off eight times, with Murray capturing five, including a win in the fourth round of the 2008 U.S. Open.

Also advancing easily were a pair of top-10 Spaniards -- eighth-seeded Fernando Verdasco and 10th-seeded David Ferrer.

Verdasco had no problems in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory over France's Adrian Mannarino, while Ferrer got past German Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Verdasco will next face either 31st-seeded David Nalbandian or Florent Serra, while Ferrer will take on Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Gimeno-Traver was a 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) winner over Jeremy Chardy.

Other seeded winners included 12th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who beat Dudi Sela 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 14th-seeded Nicolas Almagro, who defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), and 18th-seeded American John Isner, who topped Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4.

Additionally, 20th-seeded Sam Querrey overwhelmed Marcel Granollers 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 23rd-seeded Feliciano Lopez defeated Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 and 31st-seeded David Nalbandian routed Florent Serra 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.

Fresh off his title at New Haven last week, Sergiy Stakhovsky reached the third round here for the first time with a 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) win over American Ryan Harrison.

Spain's Tommy Robredo beat France's Julien Benneteau after the latter retired toward the end of the second set, and Frenchman Michael Llodra was a straight- set winner over Victor Hanescu.

The night session features top-seeded Rafael Nadal, who faces off against Denis Istomin. Nadal is in search of the career Grand Slam if he can win here at Flushing Meadows, and it would be his third consecutive major tournament win.

Third-round action gets underway for the men on Saturday, with second-seeded Roger Federer and third-seeded Novak Djokovic headlining the schedule at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Federer, a five-time champion here and a finalist in each of the past six years, takes on Paul-Henri Mathieu, while Djokovic, still in search of his second major championship, battles American fan-favorite James Blake in the night session.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

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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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

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