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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MySportsbook.com: NFL draft - The NFC South


In part two of MySportsbook.com’s draft preview, we’ll take a look at a division that was extremely disappointing last season: the NFC South.  Many “experts” predicted the Panthers to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, of course they could not even make the playoffs in an extremely weak NFC.  The Saints definitely made up for the disappointing seasons of their NFC South brethren by exploding out of no where en route to the NFC Championship game.  For the avid NFL gambler, it is imperative to pay attention to the NFL draft.  Although free agency gets a ton of publicity, the successful franchises build their teams around the draft.

1. New Orleans Saints
Who would have thought this time last year that the Saints would be the favorites to win the NFC South for the 2007 campaign?  New Orleans is loaded with firepower on the offensive side of the ball but with the exodus of Joe Horn they will most likely look to draft a WR on Day 1.  Despite having the NFL’s 3rd ranked pass defense last season, the Saints will most likely upgrade their CB’s with one of their first two picks. Other possibilities for the Saints will be TE and DT.  Because of where they will be selecting (27th), the Saints could go the “best available player” route which could net a LB.

Key additions: Eric Johnson TE, Troy Evans LB, David Patten WR
Key loses: Joe Horn WR,
Team needs: CB, WR, TE, LB, DT
Possible draftees: Aaron Ross CB Texas, Darrelle Revis CB Pitt, Ted Ginn Jr. WR OSU, Paul Posluszny LB PSU, Chris Houston CB Arkansas, Greg Olsen TE Miami

2. Carolina Panthers
Carolina was one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL last season.  With the signing of David Carr, expect the very first quarterback controversy to come out of Carolina if Jake Delhomme doesn’t rebound quickly from an average 2007 season. With veteran safety Mike Minter getting up there in age, they will look to draft a safety on Day 1 but probably not in the first round.  LB is another need with the loss of Chris Draft to go along with Dan Morgan’s concussion problems.  If TE Greg Olsen is still on the board, he might be too good to pass up despite their needs on the defensive side of the ball.

Key additions: David Carr QB
Key loses: Chris Draft LB
Team needs: LB, TE, S, OT
Possible draftees: Greg Olsen TE Miami, Patrick Willis LB Ole Miss, Paul Posluszny LB PSU, Levi Brown OT PSU

3. Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons were another NFC South team to have a disappointing 2007 season.  The Falcons have been plenty busy during the off season with plenty of players coming and going including a new head coach.  The Falcons were able to improve their draft position with the trade of coveted backup QB Matt Schaub.  High on the list of Day 1 needs will be a defensive end to replace Patrick Kerney and a hard hitting safety since Lawyer Milloy is nearing the end of his career.  With an additional 2nd round pick, the Falcons could attempt to trade up to acquire local product WR Calvin Johnson. 

Key additions: Joey Harrington QB, Toniu Fonoti OG, Joe Horn WR
Key loses: Justin Griffen RB, Patrick Kerney DE, Matt Lehr OG, Ashley Lelie WR, Matt Schaub QB
Team needs: DE, S, OT, WR, DT
Possible draftees: LaRon Landry S LSU, Amobi Okoye DT Louisville, Levi Brown OT PSU, Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas, Alan Branch DT Michigan

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Age really caught up to the Bucs last season.  The Bucs still have plenty of household names on defense in Ronde Barber, Simeon Rice and Derrick Brooks but the one thing those three have in common is unfortunately age.  It is imperative for the Bucs to get much younger, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Despite having bigger needs on the defensive side of the ball, WR Calvin Johnson is the most likely pick if he is still available when the Bucs pick at the four spot.  This would suit Bucs’ faithful just fine as Johnson is widely considered the top talent in the draft and it is a position of need for the Bucs.

Key additions: Jeff Garcia QB, Kevin Carter DE, Torrie Cox CB, Cato June LB
Key loses: Dewayne White DE, Sean Mahan OG
Team needs: WR, LB, DE, CB (Youth on defense!)
Possible draftees: Calvin Johnson WR Georgia Tech, Gains Adams DE Clemson, Jamaal Anderson DE Arkansas

It is never too early to start betting on the NFL. Log on to MySportsbook.com to checkout all of the NFL futures for the upcoming season.  On the clock: the NFC North

Odds to win the NFC South:
New Orleans Saints 8-5
Carolina Panthers 2-1
Atlanta Falcons 12-5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-2    

Odds to win the NFC:
New Orleans Saints 13-2
Carolina Panthers 7-1
Atlanta Falcons 20-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 25-1

Odds to win the Super Bowl:
New Orleans Saints 18-1
Carolina Panthers 20-1
Atlanta Falcons 50-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 75-1

To visit this sportsbook get to MySportsbook.com for all your online sportsbook needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.