Youzhny wins five-set match to reach U.S. Open semis

Tennis Betting Lines

09/09/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mikhail Youzhny outlasted Stanislas Wawrinka in five sets on Thursday to reach the semifinals at the 2010 U.S. Open.

The 12th-seeded Youzhny earned a 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over the 25th-seeded Wawrinka in four hours at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

The Russian advanced to a Grand Slam semifinal for the second time in his career. Youzhny, who reached the semis here back in 2006, is the first Russian into the semifinals of a Grand Slam since Marat Safin at Wimbledon in 2008.

Wawrinka, playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, cruised past Youzhny in the first set before things heated up in the second.

The tight second stanza ultimately went to a tiebreak, which saw the Swiss stave off three set points before the Russian finally captured it with a smash forehand winner.

Wawrinka then eased his way past Youzhny in the third, serving the set out with some big blasts.

Youzhny had no trouble taking the fourth set after racing out to a 3-0 lead. The Russian kept the momentum going in the final frame by breaking Wawrinka's serve. Youzhny then held serve and seemed to be in control.

The Swiss, though, fought right back with a hold and break of his own to even things at 2-2. The Russian followed with a break and hold to take a 4-2 edge. After each player held serve, Youzhny broke Wawrinka's serve to take the match.

Youzhny will face either eight-time major titlist Rafael Nadal or eighth- seeded Fernando Verdasco in Saturday's semis. The two Spanish players face off later Thursday night.

Nadal is the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion who has never reached a U.S. Open final. The world No. 1 superstar needs a U.S. Open title to complete the career Golden Slam, which is all four majors and an Olympic gold medal.

Saturday's other semi will pit second-seeded Swiss icon Roger Federer against third-seeded Serbian star Novak Djokovic. Federer is 10-5 lifetime against Djokovic, including wins here in New York in each of the previous three years. The Swiss topped the Serb in the 2007 U.S. Open final and the 2008 and 2009 semifinals.

The 16-time major titlist Federer is 4-1 versus the former Aussie Open champion Djokovic in Grand Slam competition.

Federer has played in the last six U.S. Open finals, including a loss against Juan Martin del Potro here a year ago. The reigning Aussie Open champion Federer captured five straight U.S. Open championships from 2004-08.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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