Serena, Sharapova roll; Stosur falls in Wimbledon opener

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 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.

A 16th-seeded Sharapova drilled fellow Russian Anastasia Pivovarova 6-1, 6-0 in a mere 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.

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.

Some other winners on Day 2 included seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, 10th-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy and 19th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. Radwanska notched a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Hungary's Melinda Czink and Pennetta rolled to a 6-4, 6-0 triumph over Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues. 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.

Gamingfrenzi Tennis Betting News

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It's less than a month until the NHL hockey betting season opens at MySportsbook.com and preparations are underway for another battle in the race to hoist Lord Stanley's mug in 2007.

As cup crazy fans prepare to place their bets, one online sportsbook ,MySportsbook.com, is offering hockey betting lines on the 2007/2007 Stanley Cup , who will bring it home this upcoming season.

Despite a poor showing in last season's playoffs and the loss of Steve Yzerman to retirement, the Detroit Red Wings are early favourites at this online sportsbook with wagering odds of 6-1. The Wings will look to offensive powerhouse Pavel Datsyuk and newly appointed captain Nicklas Lidstrom to lead one of the league's most prominent franchises.

Always a threat are the Ottawa Senators, with newly acquired goaltender Martin Gerber from the Stanley Cup champion ,Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens are second best in the rankings at a 7-1 bet, and odds makers at this sportsbook are optimistic that the Ottawa squad will fare better than last season's Eastern Conference semi-final upset to the Buffalo Sabres.

Also worth noting are the defending Stanley Cup champs Carolina Hurricanes, a 10-1 bet to repeat. Behind the Canes are the New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks all sit at 12-1. In the basement are the Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks, and St. Louis Blues who all have 100-1 odds to win.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your hockey betting needs.

FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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