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Wozniacki, Zvonareva advance to U.S. Open semis

Tennis Betting Lines

09/08/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Caroline Wozniacki overcame windy conditions and beat Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets Wednesday night to reach the semifinals at the U.S. Open.

The No. 1 seed from Denmark won her 13th straight match by virtue of the 6-2, 7-5 score at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Wozniacki, who was last year's runner-up to Kim Clijsters, has captured titles in Montreal and New Haven during her current winning streak.

Earlier in the day, seventh-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva reached her second straight Grand Slam semifinal by handling 31st-seeded Kaia Kanepi, 6-3, 7-5 on another sun-filled afternoon at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. She'll next tangle with Wozniacki in Friday's semifinals.

Wozniacki, who has yet to drop a set at this fortnight, took advantage of 43 unforced errors from her opponent. The diminutive Cibulkova, a French Open semifinalist last year, clearly had trouble with the wind, as did Wozniacki. Several times, the players had difficulty starting their serves as the ball shifted directions.

"This felt like playing in a hurricane," Wozniacki said.

Cibulkova fell behind 4-1 in the first set and was clearly frustrated. She managed to hold serve in the middle games of the second set, but Wozniacki got her opportunity when she broke serve to move ahead 6-5. Wozniacki then fought off one break point before finally finishing off the match when Cibulkova sent a return long.

Zvonareva broke Kanepi for a 6-5 lead in the second set and converted on her first match point in the next game when Kanepi launched one final backhand wide of the court at Ashe Stadium.

The 26-year-old Zvonareva advanced in 1 hour, 53 minutes, despite only striking 10 winners over two sets. The Russian did, however, pile up seven service breaks, compared to four for her Estonian counterpart, who also misfired for nine double faults.

Kanepi also appeared in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July.

The feisty Zvonareva, who celebrated a birthday here on Tuesday, will appear in her third career major semifinal. She's now reached the final four in three of her last seven Grand Slam events and is trying to give Russia a third U.S. Open champion in seven years.

"I always believed in myself," Zvonareva said. "I'm just going out there and trying my best in every match. You know, it's been working pretty good for me so far."

Zvonareva, who lost to Serena Williams in July's Wimbledon finale, has won 11 of her last 12 Grand Slam matches. She's split four all-time matches with Wozniacki.

Friday's other final-four bout will pit second-seeded and defending champion Clijsters against third-seeded former titlist Venus Williams. The former world No. 1 Clijsters beat Wozniacki in last year's U.S. Open finale, titled here in 2005, and was the runner-up in 2003. The former top-ranked Williams titled here in 2000 and 2001 and was the runner-up in Flushing in 1997 and 2002.

The newest U.S. Open champ will pocket at least $1.7 million. Wozniacki has already won the U.S. Open Series and can earn an additional $1 million bonus if she wins the championship in Flushing Meadows.


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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

  • Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
    OR
  • Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
  • There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.

    The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:

    Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots

    Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.

    For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically

    Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:

  • Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
    OR
  • Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score

    Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?

    Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21

    The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.

    Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.

    Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).

    Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.

    And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.

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