Nadal, Blake win Aussie openers in sizzling Melbourne

Tennis Betting Lines

01/16/2007 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal and fifth-seeded American James Blake were among the first-round winners on a blistering-hot Day 2 at the 2007 Australian Open.

The two-time French Open champion Nadal was fortunate enough to play under the roof at Rod Laver Arena, as temperatures soared over 100 degrees Tuesday at Melbourne Park. The powerful Spaniard reached the second round by handling American Robert Kendrick 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-2. Last season, Kendrick led Nadal two-sets-to-none before losing in five sets against the Spaniard in a second- round match at Wimbledon, where Nadal wound up as the runner-up to Roger Federer.

The reigning king of Roland Garros Nadal will meet German Philipp Kohlschreiber here in the second round.

The stifling heat forced some players to quit during their openers on Day 2. At one point, play was suspended when the tournament invoked its "extreme heat policy."

Blake, fresh off his title in Sydney, beat former world No. 1 Carlos Moya for the second time in four days, as the American moved on with a 7-6 (10-8), 6-2, 6-4 decision at the year's first major. The 2006 Tennis Masters Cup runner-up Blake also beat Moya in last Saturday's title bout at the Sydney International. Moya reached the Aussie Open final back in 1997.

The ever-improving Blake's second-round opponent will be his fellow American Alex Kuznetsov.

Third-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko and eighth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian also advanced, as Davydenko handled Argentine Sergio Roitman 6-2, 7-5, 6-2, while the former Wimbledon runner-up and 2005 Masters Cup champion Nalbandian outlasted Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-7 (5-7), 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-0, 2-1, as the Serb finally wilted in the sweltering conditions and retired due to heat exhaustion. Tipsarevic served for the match in the third set, but faded in the process.

Heavy Aussie crowd favorite Lleyton Hewitt needed all five sets to advance, as he overcame American journeyman Michael Russell 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. The 19th-seeded former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam titlist Hewitt was the 2005 Aussie Open runner-up to Russian Marat Safin.

Up next for the fiery Hewitt will be Canadian Frank Dancevic.

Tenth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez came from behind to beat Russian Evgeny Korolev 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-2, while 12th-seeded German Tommy Haas humbled Spaniard Albert Montanes 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); No. 13 Czech Tomas Berdych blitzed Korean Hyung-Taik Lee 6-1, 6-2, 6-2; and No. 15 Brit Andy Murray mauled Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-0, 6-0, 6-1. Martin held in his final service game of the match to avoid the first-ever Aussie Open triple-bagel in the Open Era.

Seventeenth-seeded Finn Jarkko Nieminen got past American Paul Goldstein 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, while No. 21 Russian Dmitry Tursunov overcame German Alexander Waske 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Other seeded winners were No. 28 Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean and No. 31 Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. Grosjean was leading Christophe Rochus 6-2, 4-1 when the Belgian succumbed to breathing problems brought on by the heat. Grosjean has been a quarterfinalist or better on four occasions in Melbourne.

Upsets came when German Florian Mayer took out 23rd-seeded Swede Robin Soderling 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0; Frenchman Arnaud Clement erased 29th-seeded Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4; and American Robby Ginepri grounded 32nd-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Clement was the Aussie Open runner-up in 2001.

Several other men recorded first-round wins, including the aforementioned Kuznetsov, Kohlschreiber and Dancevic, Belgian Olivier Rochus, France's Fabrice Santoro, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela. The 19-year-old Kuznetsov edged out Aussie favorite Peter Luczak 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4.

The final match of the day ended after 3:00 a.m. local time, as Italian Andreas Seppi edged out American Bobby Reynolds in marathon fashion, 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Seppi needed four hours to advance.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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