Federer, Soderling, Berdych move on; Roddick pulls out in Toronto

Tennis Betting Lines

08/10/2010 - Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Third seed Roger Federer, French Open finalist Robin Soderling and Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych were second-round winners at the $2.43 million Roger Cup, an ATP Masters event. Former champion Andy Roddick pulled out of the draw here on Tuesday, citing an illness.

Federer, who captured this event in 2004 and 2006 and was the runner-up in 2007, scored a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 victory over Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela during the night session.

Federer wasted a 5-2 lead in the first set, but used a forehand smash to finish the tiebreaker. The super Swiss, who improved to 5-0 lifetime against Chela, is playing in his first tournament since losing in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon on June 30. It's also the first time Federer is ranked No. 3 in an event since the 2003 Tennis Masters Cup in Houston.

Soderling, the fifth seed from Sweden, topped Latvia's Ernests Gulbis, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Soderling has been the runner-up at the French Open the last two years.

The seventh-seeded Berdych handled Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-4 in 90 minutes on the hardcourts at Rexall Centre. The 6-foot-4 Berdych was a runner- up at the Miami Masters tournament back in April.

Roddick, meanwhile, was seeded eighth here and received a bye into the second round, where France's Paul Henri Mathieu will now take his place in the draw on Wednesday.

The former world No. 1 Roddick, who captured this Canadian event in 2003 and was the runner-up in 2002 and 2004, dropped out of the top 10 this week, leaving the men's top 10 without an American for the first time since the computer rankings began in 1973.

All the remaining matches Tuesday were from round one. Ninth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco defeated Argentina's Eduardo Schwank, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2.

Unseeded Argentine David Nalbandian remained hot by outlasting and upending 10th-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in 2 hours, 15 minutes. Nalbandian tallied six service breaks, while Ferrer settled for five in the hard-fought affair.

Nalbandian is fresh off his title in Washington, D.C.. where he beat Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in a hardcourt finale. The former top-five Argentine has now won his last nine matches overall.

Baghdatis will not reach a second final in two weeks, as the former Aussie Open runner-up succumbed to France's Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4) in round one Tuesday.

Serb Viktor Troicki posted a first-round upset by dismissing 11th-seeded Croat Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

Frenchman Gael Monfils, the 15th seed, ousted India's Somdev Devvarman, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Sam Querrey, the 16th seed, topped fellow American Michael Russell, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Additional first-round wins came for Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu, Belgian Xavier Malisse and Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini, who erased Czech Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-4.

Andy Murray beat Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in last year's final in Montreal. This tournament shifts between Montreal and Toronto each year.

This week's big winner will collect $443,500.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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