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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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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