Sister Act 4: Serena, Venus to meet in fourth Wimbledon final
Tennis Betting Lines
07/02/2009 -
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Serena Williams and third-
seeded Venus Williams will square off in Saturday's ladies' final at
Wimbledon, where Venus topped Serena in last year's third all-Williams finale
at the All England Club.
In one of the best women's matches played here in some time, the two-time
champion Serena snuck past Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4-7),
7-5, 8-6 on Thursday, while the other semifinal was one of the most-lopsided
played here in a while, as the five-time titlist Venus destroyed world No. 1
Russian Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 in a laughable 51 minutes.
Venus topped Serena 7-5, 6-4 in last year's final, as Venus nailed down a
second straight and fifth overall Wimbledon title. Saturday will mark the
fourth all-Williams Wimbledon final, with Serena holding a 2-1 edge thus far.
This marked the first time since 2006 that all four top-seeded women reached
the semifinals at a Grand Slam event. Serena and Venus are former world No.
1s, which means three of the four semifinalists have held the coveted top
ranking.
In Thursday's first semi, Serena outlasted the fourth-seeded Dementieva in a
three-set thriller. The reigning Australian Open and U.S. Open titlist Serena
also topped Dementieva in a semifinal at the Aussie Open back in January.
Serena and Dementieva traded breaks in the first two games of the match on Day
10 and Serena appeared on the verge of another break in the eighth game with
a 40-15 lead. Dementieva, however, dug out of the hole to hold serve and the
set eventually went to a tiebreak on yet another hot, sunny day here.
A pair of Serena errors gave Dementieva the advantage in the tiebreak. The
American ripped a forehand wide and netted another forehand on consecutive
points to give the Russian a 6-3 edge. Dementieva quickly gave one back with a
double fault and misfired on her next serve, but Serena blasted a forehand
wide on the second serve to give Dementieva the opening set.
In an equally-as-tight second set, Dementieva eventually had opportunities to
break Serena to knot the stanza at 6-all, especially on one particular point
when the athletic Russian swatted a two-handed backhand out despite having a
wide-open court. Serena would wind up with a hold to force a deciding third
set.
In the dramatic final set, Dementieva appeared to assume some control when
Serena double-faulted and then netted a forehand to give the Russian a break
and a 3-1 lead. But Dementieva was unable to consolidate the break, as her
American counterpart broke right back and then held her serve to level the
third at 3-3.
The two stars then stayed on serve over the next several games, trading
monster forehands and backhands from the baselines. Following a Dementieva
hold, the Russian got herself to a match point in the 10th game of the stanza,
but a gutsy Serena staved it off by following up a net approach with a clutch
backhand volley winner.
Serena wound up with a hold to make it 5-all, and three games later, the
powerful American recorded a huge service break with a backhand winner for a
7-6 edge.
In the next game, Serena set-up her first match point with a forehand winner
and converted on it when Dementieva misfired wide with one final backhand
after 2 hours, 49 minutes of spectacular tennis on the famed Centre Court.
Serena launched 20 aces among her 45 winners, while Dementieva recorded 27
winners and had her serve broken five times. The two-time major runner-up from
Russia settled for three breaks in the gut-wrenching setback.
The 27-year-old Dementieva reached the French and U.S. Open finals in 2004 and
won the gold medal in Beijing last year. She has lost in the Wimbledon semis
the last two years, with last year's setback coming against the Wimbledon
queen Venus.
The 10-time major champion Serena will now appear in her 14th career Grand
Slam final (10-3). She captured Wimbledon titles in 2002 and 2003 by beating
her big sister in finals and was the runner-up here in 2004 and last year.
The 27-year-old Serena owns 33 career singles titles, including this year's
Aussie Open crown.
Meanwhile, Venus crushed a helpless Safina by breaking the Russian's weak
serve five times in six tries. The American great also tallied 16 winners,
including fives aces, compared to only six winners for a stunned Safina. And
while Safina was piling up 16 unforced errors, Venus committed only one in 13
games.
The 23-year-old Safina came here having reached three of the last five major
finals. She was upset by fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in last month's
French Open finale and dismantled by Serena in January's Aussie Open title
tilt.
Venus, who hasn't lost on Centre Court since 2004, has won 35 straight sets at
the world's most prestigious tennis event. The tall American is now 68-9 all-
time on grass overall, including 64-7 at Wimbledon.
The 29-year-old seven-time major champion Venus, like Serena, will also appear
in her 14th Grand Slam final (7-6), including her eighth at the All England
Club (5-2). She owns 41 career titles, including ones in Acapulco and Dubai
this season.
The mighty Williams sisters have combined for seven of the last nine
Wimbledon titles.
Serena and Venus will meet for a 21st time, as the superstar siblings have
split their first 20 matchups. Serena is 4-3 when they've met in Grand Slam
finals.
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National, and discussed many subjects.
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<< Shane Sellers returns tonight at Evangeline
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injury.
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Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Blackhawks have signed center John
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Rockies deal Baker to Cubs >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies traded infielder Jeff Baker
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Alburquerque.
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also playing in the FIFA Confederations Cup.
Forward Conor Casey, midfielders
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Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defender Marco Materazzi has signed a three-
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Cleveland, a week after he was traded to the Cavaliers from the Phoenix Suns,
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MySportsbook.com Posts Heisman Trophy Odds
With 3,919 passing yards, 32 touchdowns and a mere seven interceptions last season, combined with a powerful South Bend Heisman legacy, odds makers at MySportsbook.com have given Notre Dame senior quarterback Brady Quinn the best Heisman Trophy odds at 5-2.
Quinn isn’t the only big man on campus this season. Oklahoma junior running back and 2004 Heisman runner-up Adrian Peterson, listed at 7-2, rushed for a combined 3,033 yards in his first two years as a college player and will give Quinn a run for his money.
This online sportsbook has also listed Troy Smith, Ohio State senior quarterback, as another strong favorite to win the 72nd Heisman Trophy. A 7-1 bet, Smith threw for 2,282 yards last season and also led the Buckeyes to a convincing 34-20 victory over Quinn and the Fighting Irish in last season’s Fiesta Bowl.
Current betting odds Heisman trophy are:
Brady Quinn (QB, Notre Dame)
Adrian Peterson (RB, Oklahoma)
Troy Smith (QB, Ohio State)
Michael Bush (RB, Louisville)
Steve Slaton (RB, West Virginia)
Brian Brohm (QB, Louisville)
Chris Leak (QB, Florida)
Mike Hart (RB, Michigan)
Ted Ginn (WR, Ohio State)
Darius Walker (RB, Notre Dame)
Drew Tate (QB, Iowa)
Marshawn Lynch (RB, Cal)
Kenny Irons (RB, Auburn)
Chad Henne (QB, Michigan)
Kyle Wright (QB, Miami)
Drew Stanton (QB, Michigan State)
Kenneth Darby (RB, Alabama)
JaMarcus Russell (QB, LSU)
Drew Weatherford (QB, Florida State)
Blake Mitchell (QB, South Carolina)
Reggie Ball (QB, Georgia Tech) |
5-2
7-2
7-1
10-1
10-1
12-1
12-1
18-1
18-1
20-1
30-1
35-1
35-1
40-1
50-1
50-1
60-1
60-1
60-1
60-1
60-1 |
For complete NCAA Football odds visit MySportsbook.com.
Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.
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