Serena, Venus win Rome openers

Tennis Betting Lines

05/04/2010 - Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serena Williams, playing her first tennis since capturing the Australian Open back in January, and her big sister Venus were among Tuesday's second-round winners at the $2 million Italian Masters, a clay-court French Open tune-up.

The top-seeded/world No. 1 Serena started off slow before getting her game together to beat Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, while a fourth-seeded Venus leveled Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-2 on Day 3 at Foro Italico. Schnyder was finalist here five years ago.

The 2002 Rome champion Serena moved on in 1 hour, 38 minutes, while Venus needed 1 hour, 14 minutes to reach the third round, which will be staged here on Wednesday. The former No. 1 Venus titled here in 1999 and was the runner-up in 1998.

The 12-time major champion Serena, the reigning Aussie Open and Wimbledon titlist, had been nursing a knee injury for the last three months.

"I got off to a little bit of a slow start, but it was good and I was able to fight it off," Serena said after advancing.

Meanwhile, second-seeded U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki lambasted wild card and Italian favorite Maria Elena Camerin 6-1, 6-0, while Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru toppled third-seeded and defending Rome champion Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 in 2 hours, 40 minutes.

The 2009 French Open runner-up Safina, who returned to the WTA Tour just last week, bested French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in last year's all- Russian finale here and was the Rome runner-up in 2006.

Safina has been battling back problems in recent months.

"I think the only good thing about this match was that my back didn't create any problems," Safina said.

Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva handled Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 7-5 and former top-ranked star, seventh-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic, held off American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the round of 16.

In other action involving top-10 seeds, No. 8 Pole Agnieszka Radwanska routed Italian Roberta Vinci 6-1, 6-0 and former world No. 1 and former French Open champ Ana Ivanovic upended No. 9 Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-4. Ivanovic will meet Dementieva here on Wednesday.

Eleventh-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer snuck past France's Aravane Rezai 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5: Czech Lucie Safarova drove out 12th-seeded Italian favorite Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 6-2; Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez drubbed 12th-seeded Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-2; 14th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova topped Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik 6-4, 6-4; and 16th- seeded Israeli Shahar Peer came back to dismiss Slovenian Polona Hercog 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 and set-up a date with Venus on Day 4.

Other second-round winners were German Andrea Petkovic and Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova. Petkovic is rewarded with a third-rounder against Serena.

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MySportsbook.com: NBA Championship Odds

With the playoffs about two months away, the top two teams in the Western Conference are the clear cut leaders to win the NBA Championship. The Dallas Mavericks have the best record in the NBA (44-9) and have been absolutely scorching since the second week of the season.  What makes the Mavs’ record more impressive is the fact that they dropped their first four games of the season.  Currently they have won 17 out of their last 18 and are MySportsbook.com’s favorite (2-1) to win it all.  Right behind the Mavs are the Pacific leading Phoenix Suns (39-13).  Last season, the Suns lost in the Conference Finals to non-other then the Mavericks four games to two.  Of course the Suns were without center Amare Stoudemire who has is averaging 19.9 PPG and 9.5 RPG since coming back from his knee injury.  Unlike the Mavs, the Suns have struggled a bit lately having lost their last three and four out of their last seven.  Of course the main reason for their three straight loses is due to the absence of two time MVP Steve Nash, who is out with a shoulder injury.  Heads-up, the Mavs have beaten the Suns in both of their meetings this season.

In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons (32-19) are the favorites to win it all at 6-1. The addition of Chris Webber seems to have been a good move for the Pistons.  Since coming over from the 76ers, Webber has averaged 13.1 PPG and 7.3 RPG and the Pistons are 11-4.  Even though the defending champion Heat are currently on the playoff making cusp, they are the Eastern Conference team that is getting the most action to win it all (9-1).  The fact that Shaquille O’Neal is back in the starting lineup after missing 39 games probably has something to do with this.  No doubt, Shaq makes a difference when in the lineup as their winning six out of their last seven would indicate.

Just because it is the All-Star break doesn’t mean that you can’t bet on NBA hoops this weekend.  Be sure to log onto MySportsbook.com to bet on who you think will cut down the nets this July. Also, be sure to check out all of the lines and props for All-Star weekend.  With the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry, there are plenty of ways to cash in on the NBA this weekend.

MySportsbook.com’s NBA Championship odds:

Atlanta Hawks 1000-1

Boston Celtics 5000-1

Charlotte Bobcats 5000-1

Chicago Bulls 20-1

Cleveland Cavaliers 20-1

Dallas Mavericks 2-1

Denver Nuggets 25-1

Detroit Pistons 6-1

Golden State Warriors 250-1

Houston Rockets 12-1

Indiana Pacers 60-1

Los Angeles Clippers 45-1

Memphis Grizzlies 5000-1

Miami Heat 9-1

Milwaukee Bucks 1000-1

Minnesota T-Wolves 200-1

New Jersey Nets 50-1

New Orleans Hornets 150-1

New York Knicks 150-1

Orlando Magic 75-1

Philadelphia 76ers 1000-1

Phoenix Suns 5-2

Portland TrailBlazers 1000-1

Sacramento Kings 250-1

San Antonio Spurs 9-1

Seattle Sonics 5000-1

Toronto Raptors 35-1

Utah Jazz 20-1

Washington Wizards 25-1

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Football Betting: Defensive Rookie of the Year Awards

Oddsmakers have released the odds for the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award and Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry has been made the opening favorite.

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Seattle took Curry with the fourth overall pick in April's NFL draft and plan on inserting him into its starting lineup right away. The Hawks traded linebacker Julian Peterson in the offseason, so Curry is expected to have a significant role in Seattle's defense next year and that's one of the primary reasons he is the favorite to win the NFL ROY Award.

Oddsmakers from online sportsbook MySportsbook.com have made Curry a 5/1 favorite to win this year's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. Given that he was the best defensive prospect in this year's draft and how he'll have plenty of opportunities to make plays in '09, Curry offers a ton of value at 5/1.

Another thing working for Curry is the position he plays. A linebacker has won the defensive ROY award six straight times and eight of the last nine years. Jerod Mayo, Patrick Willis, DeMeco Ryans, Shawne Merriman, Jonathan Vilma, Terrell Suggs, Kendrell Bell and Brian Urlacher were the most recent linebackers to take home the award.

Following Curry at 5/1 are Tyson Jackson (Chiefs) at 7/1, James Laurinaitas (Rams) at 8/1, Brian Orakpo (Redskins) at 10/1, Rey Maualuga (Bengals) at 10/1 and Jerry Peria (Falcons) at 10/1.

All the players mentioned above are expected to start for their respective teams, but Jackson and Peria are going to have a tough time being recognized on a national level given they're both defensive linemen. D-linemen rarely put up the numbers that it takes to win an individual award like the ROY.

A couple of players with some value are Clay Matthews (Packers) at 12/1 and Larry English (Chargers) at 15/1. Matthews is expected to start at outside linebacker in Green Bay's new 3-4 defense and could rack up a ton of tackles. English, who was an impressive player at Northern Illinois, is expected to be a situational pass rusher for the Chargers and could rack up a ton of sacks.

For complete odds on the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, see below. And for complete odds for the 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, click the link provided.

2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award

Robert Ayers (DEN) 12/1

Ron Brace (NE) 25/1

Everette Brown (CAR) 16/1

Darius Butler (NE) 40/1

Patrick Chung (NE) 30/1

Aaron Curry (SEA) 5/1

Brian Cushing (HOU) 12/1

Vontae Davis (MIA) 30/1

Louis Delmas (DET) 30/1

Larry English (SD) 15/1

Evander Hood (PIT) 25/1

Tyson Jackson (KC) 7/1

Malcolm Jenkins (NO) 25/1

Paul Kruger (BAL) 50/1

James Laurinaitas (STL) 8/1

Sen'Derrick Marks (TEN) 20/1

Clay Matthews (GB) 12/1

Aaron Maybin (BUF) 15/1

Rey Maualuga (CIN) 10/1

Roy Miller (TB) 20/1

Michael Mitchell (OAK) 45/1

Fili Moala (IND) 30/1

Brian Orakpo (WAS) 10/1

Jerry Peria (ATL) 10/1

B J Raji (GB) 7/1

Clint Sintim (NYG) 35/1

Alphonso Smith (DEN) 40/1

David Verkune (CLE) 20/1

Jason Williams (DAL) 30/1

Field (Any Other Player) 6/1

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