Bartoli, Kanepi among first round winners in Rome

Tennis Betting Lines

05/03/2009 - Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marion Bartoli and Kaia Kanepi were among the first round winners at the $2 million Internazionali BNL d'Italia tennis event.

The 11th-ranked Bartoli, of France, topped China's Peng Shuai, 6-0, 7-6 (7-3) in just under 90 minutes on the red clay at Foro Italico. Estonia's Kanepi, the 16th seed, was a 6-4, 6-3 winner over American Vania King.

In other first round action, Slovak Daniela Hantuchova deafeted Russian Vera Dushevina, 6-4, 6-1, and Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro topped Great Britain's Anne Keothavong, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

One of two three-set matches of the day went to Sybille Bammer, who was a 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3 winner over China's Li Na, while the other went to Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who battled from a set down to beat Amelie Mauresmo, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.

A pair of qualifiers moved on, as Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova beat Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-2 and Japan's Ayumi Morita beat Monica Niculescu 6-1, 6-3.

The other matches featured Patty Schnyder topping Columbia's Mariana duque Marino 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, Lucie Safarova beating Mariya Koryttseva 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 and Francesca Schiavone defeating Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-4 in an all- Italian matchup.

Serbian star Jelena Jankovic bested France's Alize Cornet in last year's Rome finale.

Nikkanspots Tennis Betting News

<< Yankees put Marte on DL
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees have placed left-handed reliever Damaso Marte on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his pitching arm. The move, which is retroactive to April 26, comes after Marte str

<< Yankees-Angels rained out in New York
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sunday's series finale between the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the New York Yankees has been postponed because of inclement weather. A make-up date has yet to be determined. The Yankees' Phil

<< Almagro defeats Hernych in BMW Open first round
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spain's Nicolas Almagro was the lone first- round winner Sunday at the clay-court BMW Open. Almagro needed 74 minutes to defeat Czech Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-4 at MTTC Iphitos. The other 15 matches in

<< Gonzalez tops Garcia-Lopez in lone Estoril Open match
Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez topped Guillermo Garcia Lopez of Spain in the only first-round match on Sunday at the clay-court Estoril Open. Gonzalez topped Garcia-Lopez 6-4, 6-3 in just over 97

<< Rangers keeps pace with win over Hearts
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers moved back to within one point of league-leaders Celtic on Sunday as the club recorded a 2-0 win over Hearts at the Ibrox Stadium. Andrius Velicka scored right before halftime and Kris Boyd talli

Rios, Wells homer as Blue Jays complete sweep of Orioles >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Rios' solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning proved to be the difference, as the Toronto Blue Jays used clutch two-out hitting to defeat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3, and complete a three- game sw

Diamondbacks' Gordon leaves game with injury >>
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Tom Gordon left Sunday's game against the Brewers after suffering a leg injury in the sixth inning. Gordon, appearing in his third game of the season, uncorked a wild pitch w

Finale of four-game set between Nats and Cards rained out >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The finale of a four-game set between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washignton Nationals was postponed due to heavy rain. The Nationals did not immediately announce a makeup date.

Hawks crush Heat in deciding Game 7 >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Johnson drained six of his eight attempts from three-point range, and the Atlanta Hawks finished off a series filled with blowout wins with a 91-78 drubbing of the Miami Heat in the deciding Game 7 of th

Cubs' Zambrano leaves with leg injury >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano left Sunday's game versus the Florida Marlins in the fifth inning with a left hamstring strain. The Cubs ace hurt the leg while legging out a bunt single to lead off the

MySportsbook.com is the Internet’s largest online sportsbook site serving customers in more than 80 countries worldwide. Founded in 1997, MySportsbook.com was the first sports book to introduce reduced margin wagering, using a -105 pricing model that gives bettors up to 50% better value on wagers than traditional bookmakers. With low minimum bet requirements and the highest maximum limits on the Web, MySportsbook.com has earned an industry leading reputation for providing consistent value to the player, professional customer service and the quickest payouts online. Fully licensed and regulated in Antigua and the UK, the company offers a secure environment for sports betting, horse racing and online casino games.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts credit cards needs.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com