Top seeded Jankovic falls in Montreal

Tennis Betting Lines

08/17/2010 - Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iveta Benesova, a qualifier from the Czech Republic, upended top-seeded Jelena Jankovic, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, Tuesday at the $2 million Rogers Cup, a U.S. Open tune-up. The event is being played on the hardcourts at Uniprix Stadium.

The former world No. 1, who had reached the final in this event in Toronto in 2007, Jankovic had an opportunity to claim the first set while serving with a 5-3 lead. However, Benesova broke Jankovic and held serve to even the match and eventually force the tiebreak.

Benesova, playing in her first event of the 2010 U.S. Open Series, held serve twice and broke Jankovic again to move in front, 3-0, in the second set. The Serbian closed to within 4-3, but Benesova broke Jankovic again and then served out the match to move into the third round.

Benesova had been winless on Canadian hardcourts in two prior tournaments and had been victorious only twice on hardcourts this season before dispatching Jankovic, the 2008 U.S. Open runner-up.

Meanwhile, form held throughout the day for the rest of the seeded players, as eighth-seed Vera Zvonareva had a much easier go of it in advancing to third round with a 6-2, 6-1 victory of Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. The Moscow- born Zvonareva was the runner-up to Serena Williams at Wimbledon last month.

Ninth-seeded Li Na of China came back to win the final six games of the second set to dispose of Australian qualifier Jarmila Groth, 6-3, 6-2, to move into third round action.

In first round play, tenth-seeded Victoria Azarenka resumed her recent winning ways with a 6-1, 6-1 opening-round spanking of Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko. The world No. 13 Belarusian titled in Stanford three weeks ago and has now won six of her last seven matches. She dropped her opener in Cincinnati last week.

Former top-five Russian star Svetlana Kuznetsova was a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 first- round victor over fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Tuesday. The 11th-seeded Kuznetsova, like has Azarenka, has won six of her last seven outings, including a title in San Diego just two weeks ago.

In other opening-round play involving seeds, No. 15 Italian Flavia Pennetta topped Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-0, 7-5, No. 17 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli blitzed Canadian wild card Valerie Tetreault 6-1, 6-0, and No. 18 Russian Nadia Petrova held off Czech Lucie Safarova 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

An all-American first-rounder saw Bethanie Mattek-Sands drive out fellow Fed Cup teammate Melanie Oudin, 6-1, 6-4. The qualifier Mattek-Sands will meet last week's Cincinnati champion Kim Clijsters in the round of 32. The former world No. 1 Clijsters, the reigning U.S. Open champ, is seeded fifth here this week.

Meanwhile, Russian Maria Kirilenko leveled Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 6-0, 6-3 and resurgent Hungarian Agnes Szavay snuck past Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) in round one.

Additional opening-round wins came for Russians Alisa Kleybanova and qualifier Ekaterina Makarova, Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm and Chinese Zheng Jie.

This week's winner will earn $350,000.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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