Federer, Murray reach third round in Madrid

Tennis Betting Lines

05/12/2009 - Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1 superstar Roger Federer and U.S. Open runner-up Andy Murray were a pair of second-round winners Tuesday at the $5 million Madrid Open, an ATP World Tour Masters event.

The second-seeded 13-time major titlist Federer handled Swede Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-5, while a fourth-seeded Murray snuck past game Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6 (11-9), 6-4 on the red clay at the Magic Box.

The five-time reigning U.S. Open champion Federer captured the Madrid title in 2006 and was the runner-up here in 2007, when the event was held on an indoor hardcourt.

The three-time 2009 ATP titlist Murray, who beat Frenchman Gilles Simon in last year's indoor Madrid finale, will battle heavy Spanish crowd favorite Tommy Robredo in the round of 16.

In some other second-round play, seventh-seeded world No. 8 Fernando Verdasco whipped wild card, former world No. 1 and fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-2, while Croatian wild card Ivan Ljubicic upended ninth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 7-5 and a 16th-seeded Robredo came from behind to beat American Mardy Fish 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. Ljubicic was a Madrid runner-up in 2005. The former French Open titlist Ferrero was a Madrid champion back in 2003.

The first round concluded with nine such matches here on Day 3, as 10th-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 13th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic and 14th-seeded American James Blake safely reached the round of 32. Davydenko drubbed Serbian Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-2, while Cilic held off Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 and last week's Estoril runner-up Blake handled Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-2, 6-4.

Last week's surprise Estoril titlist, Spaniard Albert Montanes, came up an opening-round loser Tuesday at the hands of Austrian Jurgen Melzer, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Last week's Munich titlist, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, remained red hot with a 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Spanish lucky-loser Guillermo Garcia- Lopez.

Additional first-round wins came for 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic, Italians Andreas Seppi and qualifier Fabio Fognini, and Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

The second round is scheduled to conclude with 11 matches on Wednesday, including ones for world No. 1 Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal, third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic and sixth-seeded American newlywed Andy Roddick. Nadal will take on Melzer, seeking a 31st straight victory on his beloved red clay, while last week's Belgrade titlist Djokovic will encounter Spaniard Oscar Hernandez and the former world No. 1 Roddick will take on German Tommy Haas.

Roddick married model and fellow American Brooklyn Decker last month in a private ceremony in Texas and will play his first match since the wedding here on Wednesday.

The high-flying Nadal is the reigning Aussie Open, Wimbledon and French Open champ. The 2005 Madrid titlist is a staggering 147-6 on clay since '05.

Madrid, which was staged on an indoor hardcourt from 2002-08, now serves as a clay-court French Open tune-up.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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