Gasquet wins Open 13 opener
Tennis Betting Lines
02/21/2012 - Marseille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - French crowd favorite Richard Gasquet was an easy first-round winner Tuesday at the Open 13 tennis event.
The fifth-seeded Gasquet rolled past Japan's Go Soeda 6-0, 6-2 in 63 minutes on the indoor hardcourts at Palais des Sports.
Meanwhile, former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko handled German Andreas Beck 6-1, 7-5 and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut topped wild card and fellow countryman Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4. The former Australian Open runner-up Clement captured this event in 2006 and was the Marseille runner-up in 1999.
Mahut's second-round opponent will be his top-seeded compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, while the Russian Davydenko will encounter former U.S. Open champ and last week's Rotterdam runner-up Juan Martin del Potro, this week's fourth seed.
The former Aussie Open runner-up Tsonga was the Marseille titlist in 2009.
Additional Day-2 wins came for Belgian qualifier David Goffin, French qualifier Albano Olivetti and Russian Igor Kunitsyn. Olivetti is rewarded with a second-rounder against second-seeded American Mardy Fish.
The newest Marseille champ will collect $120,000.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska and former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic moved on, while sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli was a first-round upset victim Tuesday at the $2 million Dubai D
<< Cesena names Beretta new coach
Cesena, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cesena named Mario Beretta its third coach of
the season Tuesday, one day after Daniele Arrigoni was fired.
Cesena is last in Serie A and seven points from safety after Sunday's 3-1 loss
to AC Milan, which c
<< Georgia State to study potential move to FBS
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Georgia State is moving from independent status
to CAA Football membership this season.
The university may have an even bigger move in the future.
Georgia State announced Tuesday it has commissioned Collegiat
<< Above the 49: No big names expected to move north on deadline day
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NHL trade deadline on Feb. 27 promises to
be one of the most compelling deadline days in years, but not so much if you
happen to be a fan of one of the seven teams north of the border.
Among the big names
<< Kehl extends contract with Dortmund
Dortmund, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Borussia Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl
signed a one-year contract extension Tuesday with an option for a second year.
The 32-year-old Kehl's contract was set to expire after this season, but has
now
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A 3-year-old colt that had never won a race except on the grass came away Saturday with a key victory on a synthetic surface. The change in surfaces for Daddy Nose Best proved to be beneficial for him to win
Bologna extends unbeaten run against Fiorentina >>
Bologna, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alessandro Diamanti and Gaston Ramirez both
scored in the first half as Bologna followed its shocking win over Inter Milan
with a 2-0 win over Fiorentina on Tuesday in Serie A.
Bologna shocked Inter Milan,
Pervak wins Memphis opener >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second seed Ksenia Pervak was an easy
opening-round winner Tuesday at the $220,000 Memphis International tennis
event.
The Russian Pervak handled Canadian Rebecca Marino 6-2, 6-4 on the indoor
hardcourts at
Atletico Madrid's Diego to miss four weeks >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atletico Madrid playmaker Diego suffered a
torn right thigh muscle Sunday and will be sidelined four weeks.
The 26-year-old Diego was injured in the second half of a 1-1 draw against
Sporting Gijon,
Dulgheru exits Monterrey >>
Monterrey, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth seed Alexandra Dulgheru came up
an opening-round loser Tuesday at the $220,000 Monterrey Open.
Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa erased the Romanian Dulgheru 6-3, 6-3 on the
hardcourts at Sierra Mad
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.
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