Federer, Nadal roll into fourth round in Melbourne

Tennis Betting Lines

01/20/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were each straight-set winners Friday in third-round action at the Australian Open.

Federer, this year's third seed and a four-time winner in Melbourne, battled through a tough first set against Ivo Karlovic before capturing a 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, 6-3 win over the hard-serving Croatian. The 16-time Grand Slam champion had to save a set point in the first-set tiebreaker and did so with a lob over the 6-foot-10 Karlovic.

"I'm happy I found a way today," said Federer, who played his 998th career match on Friday. "[The] first set was crucial, like I said. [I'm] happy to be through in straight sets."

The second-seeded Nadal, who beat Federer for the 2009 Aussie Open crown, had little trouble in a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 rout of Slovakia's Lukas Lacko. The 10-time Grand Slam champ has won each of his three matches in straight sets and hasn't yet faced a tiebreaker.

"I've played three matches at a very good level," Nadal said. "Today was one of the best. [It was] solid, without mistakes, [I was] comfortable with the serve [and] having good returns."

Things could start to get difficult for both men in the fourth round.

Federer, who had three days off before Friday's win because of a walkover in the second round, will be tested by Australian crowd favorite Bernard Tomic, while Nadal will square off against fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

Tomic, who rallied from two sets down to win his first-round match against Spain's Fernando Verdasco, went five again on Friday and advanced with a 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 6-3 win over 13th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine.

The 30-year-old Federer and 19-year-old Tomic have met just once previously, a four-set win for the Swiss veteran in a Davis Cup World Group playoff last year.

As for Nadal, he'll take on a familiar opponent in Lopez. The two have met 10 times previously, with Nadal winning eight. Lopez needed five sets to advance on Friday, as the 18th seed outlasted American John Isner, 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-7 (0-7), 6-1.

"I hit great shots," Lopez said about his effort. "Sometimes I hit a little bit too much, too many double faults at one point, but overall I think I played great. I played great points."

Isner was the last American hope in Melbourne. It's the first time since 1973 that no American man has reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open. There were also no American men entered in 1973.

"It's very disappointing," Isner stated. "That's not a good effort from the Americans this tournament. I knew going in today I was the last one left and I wanted to keep on going, but just didn't happen. But it's very ugly, to be honest, to have no one in the round of 16. We've got to try to rectify that next time the big tournaments roll around."

Other winners Friday were seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, 10th-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, 11th-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina and unseeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Berdych earned a 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 victory over South Africa's Kevin Anderson and will next take on Almagro, who notched a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-4 win over Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.

Del Potro dropped a mere five games in a straight-set thumping of Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu and will next face Kohlschreiber, who toppled Colombia's Alejandro Falla, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3). Falla eliminated eighth-seeded American Mardy Fish in the second round.

The third round continues Saturday with eight matches and features top-seeded Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Aussie veteran Lleyton Hewitt.

Djokovic will battle Frenchman Nicolas Mahut with a potential fourth-round match against Hewitt on the horizon. Hewitt would have to beat Canada's Milos Raonic on Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Murray, who lost to Djokovic in last year's final and was also the runner-up to Federer two years ago, will meet Frenchman Michael Llodra. Ferrer, the fifth seed, will tangle with Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela, while the sixth-seeded Tsonga will take on Portugal's Frederico Gil.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines .
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