Safina to play Dementieva for gold; Djokovic wins bronze

Tennis Betting Lines

08/16/2008 - Beijing, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It'll be an all-Russian affair in the women's singles title match at the Olympics after Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva won their semifinal contests on Saturday.

The sixth-seeded Safina overcame a doubles match loss that lasted until 3:35 a.m. the previous night to score a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 win over Li Na of China. The singles match took 2 hours, 10 minutes to complete.

Dementieva, the fifth seed, dispatched ninth seed Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in another all-Russian semifinal. Dementieva will have a chance to win gold after capturing a silver eight years ago in Sydney.

In men's play, James Blake took out top seed Roger Federer on Thursday, but now the American will go home without any Olympic hardware after falling to Serbian Novak Djokovic in the bronze medal match, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Friday night, Yan Zi teamed with Zheng Jie to beat Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova in a doubles match that went deep into the night, but Safina pulled through a day later to get a chance at Olympic gold.

"It was not easy," said Safina. "I didn't sleep enough. I'm just really happy that I could put all my energy into the match and pull the match out."

Safina took advantage of 69 unforced errors by Li to advance to play for the gold medal on Sunday. Safina also overcame 12 double faults, including four in the sixth game of the first set and the same in the fifth game of the second.

"It's unbelievable," said Dementieva of Russia being guaranteed a gold in women's singles. "It's a huge moment for our country and I'm sure all the fans in Russia will be happy about it."

Safina is 5-2 all-time against Dementieva.

Kuznetsova will play Li on Sunday for the bronze.

As for the eighth-seeded Blake, he blew up with a verbal attack on Fernando Gonzalez following their semifinal match on Friday, and a day later lost to the third-seeded Djokovic.

Twin brothers and No. 1 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan won the bronze medal in men's doubles, defeating France's Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In women's doubles, the American sisters of Venus and Serena Williams are through to the final after beating Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

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2007 NFL Football Betting Preview


“You play to win the game!”

Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.

The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.

The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.

Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?

Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.

New York Giants betting lines

Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.

Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.

Dallas Cowboys betting lines

Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.

The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.

Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.

Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.

Oakland Raiders betting lines

This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.

First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”

The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason. 

Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.

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