Baghdatis advances to final in D.C.

Tennis Betting Lines

08/07/2010 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eighth-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis defeated Xavier Malisse in straight sets to reach the final of the $1.402 million Legg Mason Tennis Classic, a hardcourt U.S. Open Series event.

Baghdatis recorded a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) victory in 1 hour, 47 minutes to advance to his ninth career final and second this year. His last title came early in the year in Sydney.

The former Australian Open finalist and Wimbledon semifinalist, Baghdatis will face either Marin Cilic or David Nalbandian in the final.

The 2010 Legg Mason champion will pocket $261,500.

Onlinecasnio Tennis Betting News

<< Red Sox ink Delgado to minor league deal
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox agreed to a minor league contract with former New York Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado. Delgado has yet to play this season while he recovers from offseason hip surgery. He tried

<< Edwards tops in qualifying at Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carl Edwards claimed his first Sprint Cup Series pole in two years by winning Saturday's qualifying for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Edwards turned a

<< Woods on pace for historically bad finish
Akron, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods shot a five-over 75 on Saturday and is now 11-over par through three rounds of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Woods, a seven-time winner of this championship, is in 78th place out of 80 player

<< A-Rod struck with liner in batting practice
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was reportedly struck by a Lance Berkman line drive in batting practice and limped off the field. According to the New York Post, he was tended to by a team trai

<< Reds place Springer on DL
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Reds placed relief pitcher Russ Springer on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a strained left hip. The team replaced him on the roster with pitcher Carlos Fisher, recalling him from Triple

Nets sign F May >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New Jersey Nets have agreed to a one- year, non-guaranteed contract with forward Scott May, according to the New York Post. Charlotte made May the 13th overall selection in the 2005 NBA Draft af

Power continues road course domination with Mid-Ohio pole >>
Lexington, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Will Power edged defending IZOD IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti in Saturday's qualifying to capture the pole for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Power lapped the 2.258-mile,

Stubbs hits key HR, Reds hold on to top Cubs despite shaky ninth >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Drew Stubbs hit the tie-breaking home run in a two-run eighth inning that carried Cincinnati past Chicago, 4-3, in the middle matchup of a three-game set. Stubbs launched Randy Wells' second pitch of the innin

Muscle Massive rallies for Hambletonian win >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Muscle Massive, driven by Ron Pierce, rallied down the stretch to capture Saturday's 85th running of the $1.5 million Hambletonian at The Meadowlands. Muscle Massive trotted the mile in 1:51.

Arencibia hits two HR's in debut to fuel Jays win over Rays >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - J.P. Arencibia had a major-league debut to remember, going 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double and three RBI, as the Toronto Blue Jays belted eight home runs en route to a 17-11 drubbing of the Rays, h

COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

Get free Sports Betting lines RSS feeds from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com