Serena, Wozniacki, Sharapova roll; Stosur exits Wimbledon

Tennis Betting Lines

06/22/2010 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Serena Williams began her quest for a fourth Wimbledon title with an easy straight-set win over Portugal's Michelle Larcher De Brito, while third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki and former champion Maria Sharapova also rolled, and French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur was a surprise opening-round loser Tuesday at the All England Club.

The top-seeded Williams, who captured her third Wimbledon crown last year and took the Australian Open title for a fifth time earlier this year, needed just 63 minutes to post a 6-0, 6-4 rout on Day 2 of this fortnight.

Williams dominated the first set in 22 minutes, ripping off 20 winners to her opponent's two and breaking serve three times. The second set was more competitive, but the 12-time Grand Slam champ never faced a break point and completed the match with her 15th ace.

The 28-year-old Williams was impressed with the 17-year-old Larcher de Brito's power.

"She definitely packs a punch," Williams said. "It was good for me, because most people that do play nowadays hit really hard. It was good to get someone that hit really hard early on."

Up next for Williams will be former top-10 Russian Anna Chakvetadze, who rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Germany's Andrea Petkovic, a grass-court runner-up to Justine Henin in The Netherlands last week.

The U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki waltzed past Italian veteran Tathiana Garbin 6-1, 6-1 in a mere 48 minutes, while a 16th-seeded Sharapova drilled fellow Russian Anastasia Pivovarova 6-1, 6-0 in a brisk 54 minutes.

The former world No. 1 Sharapova is a three-time major champion, including an upset victory over Serena in the 2004 Wimbledon finale.

Up next for Sharapova will be Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru, while Wozniacki will meet Taipei's Kai-Chen Chang.

A sixth-seeded Stosur, meanwhile, was knocked out in 6-4, 6-4 fashion by big- hitting Estonian Kaia Kanepi, who popped eight aces and broke Stosur's serve three times, compared to only one break for Stosur, who considers grass her worst surface.

Stosur reached her first career major final three weeks ago in Paris, where she was upset by Italian Francesca Schiavone in the French Open finale. Schiavone exited the Wimbledon draw here on Monday.

"No doubt it's a quick turnaround," Stosur said. "The champions of the game can do it back to back. That's the kind of pedestal that you want to try to look up to and try to get to yourself."

Some other winners on Day 2 included seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, ninth-seeded Chinese Li Na, 10th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy, 14th-seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, and 19th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. Radwanska notched a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Hungary's Melinda Czink, while Li topped South African Chanelle Scheepers 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, Pennetta rolled to a 6-4, 6-0 triumph over Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues, and Azarenka doused Croat Mirjana Lucic 6-3, 6-3. The two-time major champion Kuznetsova, however, struggled past Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.

Chinese Zheng Jie, seeded 23rd here, cruised past France's Pauline Parmentier 7-5, 6-3, while Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova upended 25th-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 and 31st-seeded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru held off 39-year-old Japanese Kimiko Date Krumm 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1.

Other seeded winners on Tuesday were No. 18 Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, No. 29 Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No. 32 Italian Sara Errani.

Several other women reached the second round, including the aforementioned Chakvetadze, Czech veteran Klara Zakopalova and Aussie Anastasia Rodionova.

The second round will get underway here on Wednesday, including matches for second-seeded five-time champion Venus Williams, fourth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic, eighth-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters and 17th-seeded Belgian Justine Henin.

The former world No. 1 and 2009 Wimbledon runner-up Venus will take on Russian Ekaterina Makarova, while the former top-ranked star Jankovic will meet Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak, the U.S. open champion and former No. 1 Clijsters will face Croat Karolina Sprem, and the Aussie Open runner-up and former top- ranked stalwart Henin will battle German Kristina Barrois. Henin is a two-time runner-up here and was a titlist in The Netherlands last week.

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL BETTING

NCAA Football Betting

Many fans thought it was the best side in the nation by the end of last season. This year, the polls have built on Georgia's momentum and granted it the No. 1 preseason ranking, followed by Ohio State and USC. (The Associated Press has the Buckeyes at No. 2; USA Today took the Trojans.)

"To have people believing we have one of the best teams in the nation going into this thing, it's exciting for us," Bulldogs coach Mark Richt told the AP. "I don't think anything is guaranteed, but we certainly have put ourselves in position where at least the college football world thinks we're pretty good."

Georgia Bulldogs - 9.5 wins

There's no question they're good, but the Bulldogs have one of the toughest 12-game schedules in the nation, mostly because they play in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference. Away games at No. 15 Arizona State, No. 7 LSU and No. 10 Auburn loom large, with contests between the hedges versus No. 24 Alabama and No. 18 Tennessee as well as the World's Largest Cocktail Party in Jacksonville versus No.5 Florida.

Ohio State Buckeyes - 10 wins

Like the Bulldogs, the Buckeyes also have a number of tough road contests in 2008. After two scrimmages dressed up as real games versus Youngstown State and Ohio, it's off to face USC. Other tough away games include No.13 Wisconsin in October and No. 20 Illinois in November. Granted, it should be pretty easy sledding at the Horseshoe. In fact, the only ranked team that travels to Columbus is No. 22 Penn State, in October.

USC Trojans - 10.5 wins

A similarly light schedule awaits the Trojans of Southern California, which is why the oddsmakers' total is one win more and the over is currently commanding -150 odds. Pete Carroll's troops only play three ranked teams in 2008, and all of those games are at home. After what should be an easy trip to Virginia to start things off on Aug. 30, the Trojans get two weeks to prepare for Ohio State in Los Angeles. Their two other ranked opponents, No. 21 Oregon and No. 15 Arizona State, visit in consecutive weeks to start the month of October. After that, the competition eases up. Of course, this is the same highly-touted school that lost to Stanford in 2007 and Oregon State in 2006. And don't discount the fact that USC plays its biggest rivals, Notre Dame and UCLA, back-to-back to close out the regular season. On paper, the Trojans are far superior, but motivation will be high for the Irish and Bruins, especially if their historic foes are in national-title contention.

Odds to Win the Heisman Trophy

Tim Tebow, Florida - 7/2
He won it last year, so it's no surprise he's the favorite to do it again, making him just the second player to go back-to-back. Ohio State's Archie Griffin turned the trick in 1974 and 1975, and Tebow's coach, Urban Meyer, is pretty sure his star quarterback can match the Buckeyes legend.

"There has never been anyone quite like him," Meyer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I am very lucky to be his coach."

Chris Wells, Ohio State - 5/1

The man they call "Beanie" was a star recruit out of high school, so it's not like nobody knew who the star tailback was before he rushed for 576 yards as a freshman in 2006 and 1,609 as a sophomore. But perhaps his finest moment came last year versus Michigan when he rumbled for 222 yards and two touchdowns in the Buckeyes' 14-3 victory over the hated Wolverines.

Knowshon Moreno, Georgia - 8/1

If the Bulldogs are to live up to expectations, they'll need a huge effort from their sophomore running back. This might be the last year of college ball for Moreno, who rushed for 1,334 yards and for 14 touchdowns as a freshman, while adding 253 receiving yards on 20 receptions, so expect big things for the man from Belford, N.J.

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