Serena, Jankovic to meet in U.S. Open final

Tennis Betting Lines

09/05/2008 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Serena Williams and Serbian Jelena Jankovic will square off in Saturday night's final at the 2008 U.S. Open.

The fourth-seeded two-time champion Williams reached her fourth U.S. Open final by dominating sixth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-2 amid breezy conditions in Friday's second semifinal at Ashe Stadium. The surging Safina reached the final in six of her previous seven tournaments, winning three titles, and has beaten three different world No. 1 women this season.

Williams converted on her first match point against Safina when the Russian was unable to return one final big Serena serve after 1 hour, 28 minutes. The American broke Safina's serve five times and watched her Russian counterpart pile up 41 unforced errors.

The 26-year-old Williams will seek her ninth major title, going 8-3 in her previous Grand Slam finals. The former world No. 1 superstar owns 31 career titles overall on the WTA Tour, including three already this season, and will appear in her first U.S. Open final since 2002.

Williams was July's Wimbledon runner-up to her older sister Venus.

In the first semi of the day, the second-seeded Jankovic handled fifth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-4 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The two-time major runner-up Dementieva, fresh off her gold medal- winning performance in Beijing, was the 2004 U.S. Open runner-up to fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Jankovic was ranked No. 1 for only one week just last month.

The 23-year-old Jankovic will now appear in her first-ever major final after going 0-4 in her previous Grand Slam semis, including 0-2 in such encounters this season. She was a semifinalist here two years ago.

Jankovic converted on her first match point after 1 hour, 34 minutes of tennis on Day 12 here when Dementieva sent one final forehand long of the court at Ashe. A sloppy Dementieva piled six double faults and 42 unforced errors and had her weak serve broken on five occasions by Jankovic, who played some great defense to advance.

Dementieva was riding an 11-match winning streak.

The Belgrade native Jankovic will appear in her 16th career final on the WTA Tour, going 6-9 in her previous ones, including 1-1 this year.

Serena and Jankovic have split six career matchups, including two meetings this year. The American prevailed in a final in Miami, while the Serb came out on top in an Aussie Open quarterfinal back in January. Williams topped Jankovic in an Aussie Open encounter last year, as the two players are 1-1 in their Grand Slam matchups.

The Williams-Jankovic winner will become the new No. 1 player in the world. The final could be in jeopardy here on Saturday, as foul weather is in the forecast due to Tropical Storm Hanna.

The 2008 U.S. Open champ will pocket $1.5 million, while the runner-up will collect $750,000.

Wwwnasasports Tennis Betting News

<< Boston activates trio, including Beckett
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox activated starting pitcher Josh Beckett and infielders Sean Casey and Mike Lowell from the 15-day disabled list Friday. Beckett is scheduled to take the mound tonight against the

<< Nationwide qualifying washed out at Richmond
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rain from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Hanna have forced NASCAR officials to cancel qualifying for Friday night's Emerson Radio 250 Nationwide Series race at the Richmond International Raceway

<< Jankovic reaches U.S. Open final
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1 Serb Jelena Jankovic secured a berth in Saturday night's U.S. Open women's final. The second-seeded Jankovic handled fifth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-4 in Friday's firs

<< Stuttgart's Gomez considering options
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez admitted on Friday he is keen to play in one of Europe's other top leagues. The 23-year-old Germany international was the subject of a failed approach from Manchester City

<< Ferdinand ruled out of England's Cup qualifier
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was ruled out of England's opening World Cup qualifier against Andorra on Saturday with a back injury Friday. Ferdinand, 29, missed training before England fle

NASCAR postpones Richmond races until Sunday >>
Richmond, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Due to heavy rains and winds expected from Tropical Storm Hanna, NASCAR has postponed all track activities at the Richmond International Raceway until Sunday. The outer bands of the storm reached t

Villegas leads BMW Championship >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Camilo Villegas fired a five-under 65 on Friday to finally take the first-round lead of the BMW Championship, the third FedEx Cup Playoff event. Newly selected United States Ryder Cupper Steve Stric

U.S. Open contingency plans in place for Hanna >>
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. Open officials made contingency plans due to the expected arrival of Tropical Storm Hanna this weekend, and it could push the women's final to Sunday night and the men's championship match to late

Im still in front at Canadian Tour Championship >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Daniel Im posted a four-under 68 on Friday to stay atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Canadian Tour Championship. Im finished 36 holes at 12-under 132 and is one ahead at National P

Rangers' Kinsler to have season-ending surgery >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a sports hernia. Kinsler, out since August 18 with the injury, decided to forego an attempt to come back this season


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.