Verdasco, Gasquet to meet in Nice final

Tennis Betting Lines

05/21/2010 - Nice, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Spanish slugger Fernando Verdasco and heavy French favorite Richard Gasquet will clash in Saturday's title match at the inaugural clay-court Nice Open, a final French Open tune- up.

The world No. 9 Verdasco got past 59th-ranked Argentine Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 at Nice Lawn Tennis Club. The Spanish Verdasco was only broken once, while tallying a pair of breaks, and moved on in 1 hour, 40 minutes.

Verdasco, who is one of only three players to win at least 30 matches so far this season, has been hot on the European red clay, including a title in Barcelona and a runner-up finish against the "King of Clay," Rafael Nadal, at the Monte Carlo Masters.

An unseeded Gasquet, meanwhile, joined the lefthanded Verdasco in the final here with a 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (8-6) semifinal decision against Italian Potito Starace on Day 6. The Frenchman advanced in just over two hours, with the help of eight aces.

The 26-year-old Verdasco will appear in his 13th career ATP final, seeking a sixth title. He's 2-1 in his 2010 title tilts, with the wins coming in Barcelona and San Jose.

The 23-year-old Gasquet, like Verdasco, will also perform in his 13th career final and seek a sixth championship. He was a runner-up in Sydney back in January.

Verdasco is 5-4 lifetime against Gasquet, but the Frenchman is 3-2 in their clay-court encounters. The ever-improving Verdasco, however, has won their last two matchups on the dirt.

Saturday's winner will collect $89,000.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.