Mauresmo, Kuznetsova, Serena move on at Oz Open

Tennis Betting Lines

01/17/2007 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Amelie Mauresmo, French Open runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova and two-time Melbourne titlist Serena Williams highlighted Wednesday' second-round winners at the Australian Open.

The second-seeded former world No. 1 Mauresmo charged past helpless Russian Olga Poutchkova 6-2, 6-2 to corral her ninth straight victory at Melbourne Park. The two-time Grand Slam champion topped Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne in last year's Aussie Open and Wimbledon finals and was the runner-up here in Melbourne in 1999.

The French Mauresmo's third-round opponent will be Czech Eva Birnerova.

A third-seeded Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champ, blew past Aussie Monique Adamczak 6-2, 6-1. The Russian Kuznetsova has lost only five games over her first two matches at this Aussie fortnight.

Next up for Kuznetsova will be her 26th-seeded countrywoman Maria Kirilenko, who beat Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Day 3.

An unseeded Williams, a seven-time major titlist who prevailed here in Melbourne in 2003 and 2005, topped Anne Kremer of Luxembourg 7-6 (7-4), 6-2. Williams' next hurdle will be fifth-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova, an easy 6-1, 6-2 winner over Argentine Gisela Dulko.

Seventh-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, a two-time Grand Slam runner-up in 2004, got past German Martina Muller 7-5, 3-6, 6-0, while 10th-seeded Czech slugger Nicole Vaidisova vaulted past Venezuelan Milagros Sequera 6-2, 6-2 and 11th-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic moved to 11-1 this year with a 6-2, 6-2 pasting of veteran Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual.

In other second-round action, 16th seed Shahar Peer of Israel downed American Meilen Tu 6-3, 6-0; No. 20 seed Tatiana Golovin of France pounded Czech Zuzana Ondraskova 6-2, 6-0; and 21st-seeded Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik outlasted Czech Iveta Benesova 7-6 (7-0), 6-7 (6-8), 6-1.

There were a few upsets, as Czech Lucie Safarova defeated 14th-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-3; Victoria Azarenka of Belarus ousted 18th- seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-0, 7-5; and another Belarusian, Anastasiya Yakimova, drove out 23rd-seeded Japanese Ai Sugiyama 6-2, 2-6, 10-8.

Additional second-round wins came for Italian Maria Elena Camerin and the aforementioned Birnerova, who set up the date with Mauresmo by topping German Julia Schruff 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.

Eighth seed Patty Schnyder, ninth seed Dinara Safina and No. 15 seed Daniela Hantuchova were among Wednesday's first-round victors. Schnyder, of Switzerland, topped American Madison Brengle 6-3, 6-4; Safina downed her fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; and Hantuchova beat France's Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-1.

Other seeded first-round winners were No. 17 German Anna-Lena Groenefeld, No. 19 Chinese Na Li and No. 22 Russian Vera Zvonareva.

Several other women recorded opening-round wins, including American Ashley Harkleroad, who drubbed China's Meng Yuan 6-3, 6-0.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.

The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.

MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.

A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.

A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.

Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.

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