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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It is called the "pointspread."

Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.

But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.

A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.

In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.

The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere.

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