05/14/2008 - Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American stars Serena Williams and Venus Williams eased into the third round, while top-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic was a second-round upset victim Wednesday at the $1.34 million Italian Open, a clay-court French Open tune-up.
The Australian and French Open runner-up Ivanovic was sent packing by Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 on Day 3 at Foro Italico.
Meanwhile, a fifth-seeded Serena flattened Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-0 and a seventh-seeded Venus floored Aussie Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-1. Venus is seeing her first action in a month after taking some time off due to medical reasons.
Serena captured this event back in 2002, while Venus was the winner in 1999 and the runner-up in 1998.
In other second-round action involving tournament favorites, third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova crushed Belarusian Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-0, fourth-seeded and defending Rome titlist Jelena Jankovic handled Italian crowd favorite Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 6-4, and No. 6 Russian Anna Chakvetadze got past Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0. The Serbian Jankovic beat the U.S. Open runner-up Kuznetsova in last year's Rome finale.
In other top-10 play, No. 8 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli foiled fellow Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-4, 7-5, No. 9 Swiss Patty Schnyder shut down Spanish lucky-loser Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1, 6-0 and No. 10 Russian Vera Zvonareva held off Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. Schnyder also played her first-round match here on Wednesday, and fought back to beat Ukrainian qualifier Mariya Koryttseva 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Wild card and Italian favorite Sara Errani erased 11th-seeded Hungarian Agnes Szavay 6-0, 6-3, while No. 12 Pole Agnieszka Radwanska overcame another Italian wild card, Roberta Vinci, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, and French qualifier Alize Cornet disappointed the home crowd by ousting 17th-seeded Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-2.
Additional second-round wins came for Belarusian wild card Victoria Azarenka, Russian Maria Kirilenko and Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki.
In addition to the aforementioned Schnyder, five other women also saw double duty and won their first-round bouts on Day 3, as Russian lucky-loser Ekaterina Makarova, Kirilenko, Kateryna Bondarenko, Cornet and Pennetta also posted opening-round wins before delving into their second-rounders. Makarova upended 13th-seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 and Kirilenko knocked out 18th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Three second-round and six first-round matches were either postponed or suspended because of rain here on Tuesday.
This year's Rome titlist will collect $196,900.
<< Federer, Nadal win Hamburg openers
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The world's top-two stars -- Swiss
Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal -- were a pair of second-round winners
Wednesday at the $2.955 million Masters Series Hamburg, a clay-court French
Open tuneup.
<< Angels' Lackey to make first start of season
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher John
Lackey will be activated from the 15-day disabled list and will start
Wednesday's game against the Chicago White Sox.
Lackey has been sidelined since la
<< Mellanby joins Canucks front office
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former NHL player Scott Mellanby will
join the Vancouver Canucks as a consultant to the general manager and hockey
operations department.
Mellanby, who played 20 years in the NHL with five diff
<< Specter calls for Mitchell-like investigation of NFL
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell may consider
"Spygate" over but Senator Arlen Specter continues to push for further
investigation.
Specter (R-PA), the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary
Red Sox place P Buchholz on DL >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox placed pitcher Clay
Buchholz on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a broken nail on his right
hand.
The rookie suffered the injury during Monday's 7-3 loss at Minnesota. Buchhol
CONCACAF Champions league qualification format announced >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Confederation of North, Central American
and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) unveiled the qualification
format for the inaugural 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League, it was announced
on Wedn
Preakness Stakes is Big Brown's to lose >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Coming out of the Kentucky Derby, it
appeared that this year's Preakness Stakes could be a walk-over for Big Brown.
He proved that post position is no deterent to him when he easily went from
post 20
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic win Hamburg openers >>
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The world's top-three stars --
Swiss Roger Federer, Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Serbian Novak Djokovic -- were
a trio of second-round winners Wednesday at the $2.955 million Masters
Series
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American Idol Betting Odds: Season 6
The online gambling websites are in the process of deciphering each American Idol contestant and his or her chances of winning Season 6 to come up with the early American Idol betting lines.
Tim Dalton of MySportsbook.com has been locked away in a soundproof room coming up with all the latest tallies, we are told. "American Idol has become one of the most significant betting events of the year," claims Jack Black of MySportsbook.com. "Last year, millions were bet during the season across the globe, not just in America.It's tough early on since we really do not have a glimpse as to how well each of these individuals will perform solo on a week-to-week basis. It's like Week 1 of the NFL. Pre-season means nada!
We do know the 24 finalists however.
Sanjaya Malakar is the young man whose sister failed to make it into the Top 24. He's very low key but - unless he totally flubs - will probably win over the young girlie vote for a few weeks anyway. He's too young to go all the way, according to Payton O'Brien.
Brandon Rogers - Who?
Phil Stacy is the military guy who missed his daughter's birth because of the Memphis audition. He should go a good distance.
Chris Sligh - He's got the humor and in many ways he's the Anti-American Idol much like last year's winner Taylor Hicks was. And this is why he'll probably get pretty far in this competition. He's chubby, white with a big curly afro....but more importantly, a great voice! People love "real", not "real cute" to go all the way.
"Blake Lewis should go far because of his uniqueness and looks. He's the boy next store with a twist - he beat boxes. But on top of this, he's a great singer, and I adore him," Payton O'Brien relayed.
A talented beat-boxer Blake Lewis was a hit during the group sing in Hollywood but Simon explained that this is a singing contest just before he told him he was “in.”
Paul Kim has caught our own roving reporter, Jenny Woo's eyes.
"I love the fact that there is a Korean American on the show and he is bound to get more Asians tuning into the show," Woo said from her Miami Beach estate. "There has never been a major presence of Asian-Americans on American Idol in the past. He's a hottie with a nice voice so that should help to take him far. Expect heavy betting action from the Asian community."
Sundance Head - He's not perfect, but he's got the personality that will take him through a few weeks, plus he's got the lineage (son of Roy Head - whose 1965 single, "Treat Her Right," hit No. 5 in the charts)
And the others:
Rudy Cardinas
AJ Tabaldo - the 5th time is the charm
Nicolas Pedro
Chris Richardson
Jared Cotter
The girls
"Melinda Doolittle has one of the best voices," says MySportsbook.com Reporter and an acclaimed dancer in her own right, Destiney Lewis. "It is great to see a back up singer step out like she has. The girl needs to gain more confidence but that can also be a positive. I think she will go far."
Alena Alexander - Those tears (she never seems to stop bawling) should get her far.
"Single mom Lakisha Jones I suspect will be a pretty big favorite entering Week 1 of the competition," says Destiny Williams. Jones is an excellent singer and down to earth. "She'll have a wide appeal," echoed O'Brien.
Nicole Trellis - Seems to exert confidence.
Amy Krebs - a powerful singer.
Antonella Barba
Gina Glocksen
Hailey Scanardo
Jordan Sparks
Stephanie Edwards
Leslie Hunt
Sabrina Sloan
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Last two contestants will be?
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