Djokovic, Murray, Hewitt reach fourth round Down Under

Tennis Betting Lines

01/21/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's champion Novak Djokovic and runner-up Andy Murray, as well as Aussie hero and former finalist Lleyton Hewitt, were among Saturday's third-round winners at the Australian Open.

The world No. 1 Djokovic rolled past helpless Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 on Day 6. The Serbian slugger advanced in a mere 74 minutes, piling up eight service breaks in the process and holding his serve throughout.

"I always played well in Australia. This is the only Grand Slam I won twice," Djokovic said. "The conditions are great. They're very suitable to my style of the game, day and night. I'm really looking forward to next week."

The reigning Aussie Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titlist has now won 35 of his last 37 Grand Slam matches and is seeking a third straight major title and a third Aussie crown. A title here would put Djokovic in select company, as only four players -- Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal -- have captured three straight Grand Slam championships in the Open era.

Djokovic, who beat Murray in last year's Aussie finale, will meet the former No. 1 Hewitt here on Monday.

A fourth-seeded Murray, meanwhile, improved to 15-2 in Melbourne over the last three years with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 throttling of French left-hander Michael Llodra. The Brit swatted 30 more winners (48-18) in the 1-hour, 49-minute rout on Day 6.

In addition to his loss against Djokovic in last year's finale, Murray gave way to Federer in the 2010 Aussie title tilt.

The three-time major finalist Murray, who captured a title in Brisbane two weeks ago, will face Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin in the fourth round next week.

The unseeded Hewitt thrilled the home crowd by upending rising 23rd-seeded Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Hewitt moved on in 3 hours, 6 minutes, despite 23 aces from Raonic, who also piled up 54 unforced errors en route to defeat. The Aussie veteran managed three key service breaks, compared to two for the loser from Canada.

Raonic recently titled in India to open his 2012 season.

Hewitt is a two-time major champ and was the 2005 Aussie runner-up to retired Russian and fellow former world No. 1 Marat Safin.

Fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer took care of 27th-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 7-5, 6-2, 6-1, while France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the tournament's sixth seed, tattooed Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Tsonga lost to Djokovic in the 2008 Aussie finale.

Ferrer titled in Auckland last week, while Tsonga is fresh off his championship in Doha two weeks ago.

A top-10 upset came when sweet-swinging Frenchman Richard Gasquet, seeded 17th, dismissed No. 9 Serb Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 in 1 hour, 37 minutes. A lethargic Tipsarevic exited after misfiring for 33 unforced errors, compared to only eight for an in-form Gasquet.

Gasquet should have his hands full with the gritty Ferrer on Monday.

In other third-round play, the aforementioned Kukushkin stunned 14th-seeded French star Gael Monfils 6-2, 7-5, 5-7, 1-6, 6-4, while 24th-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori bested France's Julien Benneteau 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. The capable Benneteau was a finalist in Sydney last week.

Nishikori will tangle with Tsonga in the round of 16.

The fourth round will commence Sunday, including matches for a second-seeded Nadal and third-seeded Federer. Nadal will take on 18th-seeded fellow Spaniard and Davis Cup teammate Feliciano Lopez, while Federer will encounter rising Aussie sensation, 19-year-old Bernard Tomic.

The former No. 1 Nadal owns 10 major titles, including last year's French Open and the 2009 Aussie, when he topped Federer in the final at Melbourne Park. The former top-ranked Federer boasts a men's record 16 Grand Slam titles, including a men's Open era record-tying four Aussie championships.

Also on Sunday, seventh-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych will meet 10th-seeded Nicolas Almagro and 11th-seeded former U.S. Open champ Juan Martin del Potro will battle German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

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Online Sportsbook Football Betting

LaDainian Tomlinson Favorite to be 2007 NFL MVP

With the first NFL preseason game less than two weeks away, it is time to start thinking about football once again at MySportsbook.com. Reigning NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson is currently the 5-1 co-favorite to win the award again alongside Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning.

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone after his all out assault on the record books last season. For those suffering from amnesia or were under a rock last football season, all L.T. did last season was set the NFL record for rushing touchdowns (28), total touchdowns (31) and total points scored (186) to go along with his 1815 rushing yards and 508 receiving yards. At 6-1, Tom Brady is next in line which isn’t surprising considering all of the firepower the Pats added over the off-season. With the addition of Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker; it would be quite difficult for Brady’s numbers not to improve from last years 3529 yards and 24 touchdowns. There appears to be some decent value in Drew Bees at 10-1 considering he probably would have won the award last year if it wasn’t for L.T.’s record breaking season.

There is no reason to think the Saints will come back to earth this season and playing in a weak NFC, they should have as good a shot as any to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. At 15-1, Donovan McNabb could also be worth a look. Remember, many felt he was the MVP of the first half of the season before going down with a season ending injury. Reportedly, he is in great shape and well ahead of schedule to return to form. Also, he could have some added motivation to put up big numbers this season with the Eagles using their first pick in the draft on McNabb’s future successor Kevin Kolb.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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