Pennetta, hot Rezai, Errani move on in Palermo

Tennis Betting Lines

07/13/2010 - Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Italian favorite Flavia Pennetta, last week's Bastad champion Aravane Rezai and 2009 Palermo runner-up Sara Errani of the host nation posted first-round victories Tuesday at the $220,000 Palermo International tennis tournament.

The reigning Palermo champion Pennetta leveled German Kathrin Woerle 6-3, 6-1, while the second-seeded Rezai won her sixth straight match by outlasting Romania's Simona Halep 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 on the red clay at Country Time Club. The French Rezai is fresh off a clay-court championship in Sweden.

Up next for Pennetta will be Czech Renata Voracova, while Rezai will take on Colombian Mariana Duque Marino.

Pennetta beat Errani in last year's all-Italian finale here and was the Palermo runner-up back in 2004.

A third-seeded Errani, meanwhile, blew past Ukrainian Mariya Koryttseva 6-2, 6-3. Errani has reached the last two finals here, titling in 2008 and losing to Pennetta in last year's title tilt.

Errani's second-round opponent will be Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic.

A mild Day-2 upset came when Slovenian Masa Zec Peskiric took out seventh- seeded Spaniard Arantxa Parra Santonja 7-5, 6-3.

Two other seeds avoided upsets, as No. 8 Julia Goerges of Germany grounded Italian qualifier Martina Caregaro 6-3, 6-2 and No. 9 Italian Alberta Brianti topped Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus 7-6 (7-0), 6-2. Brianti became a seed this week when No. 6 Chinese Peng Shuai pulled out of the field, citing an ankle injury.

Other Day-2 wins came for the aforementioned Voracova and Lucic, Italians Corinna Dentoni, a qualifier here, and Romina Oprandi, a wild card, Spanish qualifier Nuria Llagostera Vives, and Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru. Dentoni leveled fellow Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-2, 6-3.

Wwjazzsports Tennis Betting News

<< MLS announces First XI for All-Star Game
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - United States star Landon Donovan highlighted a list of four Los Angeles Galaxy players named to Major League Soccer's All- Star First XI on Tuesday. L.A.'s Edson Buddle, Omar Gonzalez and Donovan Ricketts

<< George Steinbrenner's best chance in Kentucky Derby
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tuesday the sports world lost one of its most recognizable figures when a heart attack claimed the life of George Steinbrenner. The owner of the New York Yankees passed away at the age of 80. While best kn

<< Celtic's Boruc set to join Fiorentina
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic has agreed to sell goalkeeper Artur Boruc to Italian side Fiorentina. The 30-year-old Poland international made more than 150 appearances since arriving from Legia Warsaw in 2005 but

<< Tottenham's Bentley suffers injury setback
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Midfielder David Bentley will miss Tottenham Hotspur's preseason tour to the United States with ankle ligament damage. Bentley limped out of Saturday's friendly against Bournemouth after land

<< Ilgauskas follows LeBron to Miami
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas has apparently decided to join former Cavaliers teammate LeBron James in Miami. The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported Tuesday afternoon that Ilgauskas will sign with the Hea

Carr to retire from Michigan athletic department >>
Ann Arbor, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Michigan head football coach and current associate athletic director Lloyd Carr will retire from the school's athletic department in September. Carr will officially retire September 1, endin

Sydor calls its a career >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defenseman Darryl Sydor announced his retirement Tuesday after 18 seasons in the NHL. Sydor, 38, played in 47 games for the Blues last season, posting eight assists. "I've known Darryl fo

Judge sets Aug 4 auction of Texas Rangers >>
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -A federal bankruptcy judge has decided that the Texas Rangers will be auctioned off after all.U.S. Bankruptcy Judge D. Michael Lynn set the date for Aug. 4.Major League Baseball endorsed its preferred buyer - a group led by t

Bobcats trade Chandler to Mavericks in five-player deal >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Charlotte Bobcats traded center Tyson Chandler to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday in a five-player trade. Along with Chandler, the Mavericks acquired center Alexis Ajinca, while the Bobcats receiv

Spurs re-sign Bonner >>
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs re-signed center/forward Matt Bonner on Tuesday. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bonner just finished his sixth season in the NBA and fourth with Sa

Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.