Federer beats Roddick again to gain U.S. Open semifinal berth

Tennis Betting Lines

09/06/2007 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer continued his domination of Andy Roddick, knocking the American out of the U.S. Open with a tight 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 quarterfinal victory Wednesday night.

The three-time defending champion, Federer won his 26th straight match at the U.S. Open and is now one win away from moving into a Grand Slam final for a 10th consecutive time.

Roddick, the fifth seed and 2003 Open winner, couldn't break the Super Swiss' serve in any game the entire match. In fact, there were only two breaks of serve, the final two times Roddick took the ball, as the top-seeded/world No. 1 Federer moved to 14-1 all-time against his American opponent.

"I didn't have a break point until the third set, it really shows how close he was," Federer said. "I could have lost obviously the first two. I thought it was a tough match."

Next up for Federer is another player he's dominated in his career, gritty fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko, who handled 10th-seeded German Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the day session. Federer is 9-0 all-time against Davydenko.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves because this guy can play really well," Federer said. "He's been really tough the last few seasons."

Federer, who beat Roddick in last year's U.S. Open final, currently holds the Wimbledon and Australian Open titles and already owns 11 major championships. He is trying to become the first player to win four straight U.S. Open crowns since the Open Era began in 1968 and the first to accomplish the feat since Bill Tilden won six in a row from 1920-25.

In the first tiebreaker, a Federer backhand return winner moved him to a 6-4 lead, and after Roddick won a point, the world top-ranked player ended the set with an ace down the middle.

Roddick failed on a chance to break serve in the second set by hitting a shot long, and Federer held for a 4-4 score. Then in the tiebreak, the precision of Federer forced Roddick into mistakes. First, a wide return on a short bounce gave Federer a 5-4 lead. Roddick then returned a ball into the net, and finally he couldn't handle a powerful serve to close the set.

Federer's first break came to move ahead 4-2 in the third and the match ended when Roddick sent a return into the net.

Haas netted one final forehand return after 2 hours, 24 minutes of tennis, as the hot Davydenko has yet to drop a set at this particular fortnight (15-0). A frustrated Haas piled up 33 unforced errors and had his serve broken a whopping eight times by the pesky Davydenko.

"When I lost my serve, I knew I had to just concentrate on returning well in the next game, and winning the next point," Davydenko said. "If you think about what you did the point before, you can go crazy, because you may not have played so well in the last point. But today, I returned very well to break him back and finish the match."

Davydenko improved to 3-1 lifetime against Haas, including a quarterfinal victory here a year ago. The very talented but oft-injured Haas topped the Russian in this year's Aussie Open quarters.

The 26-year-old Davydenko will appear in his fourth career Grand Slam semifinal (0-3), including a second straight final four appearance here in New York.

The other quarterfinals will be staged here on Thursday, when third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic takes on 17th-seeded Spaniard Carlos Moya and 15th- seeded Spaniard David Ferrer encounters 20th-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela. The gritty Ferrer upset second-seeded Rafael Nadal here on Tuesday night, with the match actually coming to its conclusion on Wednesday morning.

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American Idol Betting Odds: Season 6  

The online gambling websites are in the process of deciphering each American Idol contestant and his or her chances of winning Season 6 to come up with the early American Idol betting lines.

Tim Dalton of MySportsbook.com has been locked away in a soundproof room coming up with all the latest tallies, we are told. "American Idol has become one of the most significant betting events of the year," claims Jack Black of MySportsbook.com.  "Last year, millions were bet during the season across the globe, not just in America.

It's tough early on since we really do not have a glimpse as to how well each of these individuals will perform solo on a week-to-week basis.  It's like Week 1 of the NFL.  Pre-season means nada!

We do know the 24 finalists however.

Sanjaya Malakar is the young man whose sister failed to make it into the Top 24.  He's very low key but - unless he totally flubs - will probably win over the young girlie vote for a few weeks anyway.  He's too young to go all the way, according to Payton O'Brien. 

Brandon Rogers - Who?

Phil Stacy is the military guy who missed his daughter's birth because of the Memphis audition.  He should go a good distance.

Chris Sligh - He's got the humor and in many ways he's the Anti-American Idol much like last year's winner Taylor Hicks was.  And this is why he'll probably get pretty far in this competition.  He's chubby, white with a big curly afro....but more importantly, a great voice!  People love "real", not "real cute" to go all the way. 

"Blake Lewis should go far because of his uniqueness and looks.  He's the boy next store with a twist - he beat boxes.  But on top of this, he's a great singer, and I adore him," Payton O'Brien relayed.

A talented beat-boxer Blake Lewis was a hit during the group sing in Hollywood but Simon explained that this is a singing contest just before he told him he was “in.”

Paul Kim has caught our own roving reporter, Jenny Woo's eyes. 

"I love the fact that there is a Korean American on the show and he is bound to get more Asians tuning into the show," Woo said from her Miami Beach estate.  "There has never been a major presence of Asian-Americans on American Idol in the past.  He's a hottie with a nice voice so that should help to take him far.  Expect heavy betting action from the Asian community."

Sundance Head - He's not perfect, but he's got the personality that will take him through a few weeks, plus he's got the lineage (son of Roy Head - whose 1965 single, "Treat Her Right," hit No. 5 in the charts) 

And the others:

Rudy Cardinas
AJ Tabaldo - the 5th time is the charm
Nicolas Pedro
Chris Richardson
Jared Cotter

The girls

"Melinda Doolittle has one of the best voices," says MySportsbook.com Reporter and an acclaimed dancer in her own right, Destiney Lewis.  "It is great to see a back up singer step out like she has.  The girl needs to gain more confidence but that can also be a positive.  I think she will go far."

Alena Alexander - Those tears (she never seems to stop bawling) should get her far.

"Single mom Lakisha Jones I suspect will be a pretty big favorite entering Week 1 of the competition," says Destiny Williams.  Jones is an excellent singer and down to earth.  "She'll have a wide appeal," echoed O'Brien.

Nicole Trellis - Seems to exert confidence.

Amy Krebs - a powerful singer.

Antonella Barba
Gina Glocksen
Hailey Scanardo
Jordan Sparks
Stephanie Edwards
Leslie Hunt
Sabrina Sloan

MySportsbook.com is offering a 20% signup bonus with an initial deposit (i.e. open your American Idol betting account with $300, receive another $60 in which to bet with). 

Last two contestants will be?

1 Male/1 Female +100 (a $10 bet pays $10 plus your initial $10)

2 Males +170 (a $10 bet pays $17 plus your initial $17)

2 Females +130 (a $10 bet pays $13 plus your initial $10)

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