Italy dethrones Russia, advances to Fed Cup final

Tennis Betting Lines

04/26/2009 - Castellaneta Marina, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Francesca Schiavone posted a triumph in the second reverse singles rubber on Sunday, as Italy deposed of two-time defending champion Russia in the semifinals of the Fed Cup.

Trailing 2-0 in the best-of-five tie, Svetlana Kuznetsova kept Russia alive by defeating Flavia Pennetta 6-0, 6-3 in one hour, 13 minutes. However, Schiavone sealed Italy's place in the final with a hard-fought 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 6-2 triumph over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who replaced Anna Chakvetadze.

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci rallied from a set down to trump the Russian duo of Pavlyuchenkova and Nadia Petrova in the doubles rubber.

The Italians had never beaten the Russians in four previous Fed Cup ties, losing in the 2007 final. Italy won its lone Fed Cup crown in 2006, beating Belgium in the final.

Russia, meanwhile, suffered its first Fed Cup loss since the 2006 first round against Belgium. The Russians fell short in their bid for a fifth crown in the last six years.

Italy will play for the Fed Cup title in November against the United States, who battled back to beat the Czech Republic, 3-2, in their best-of-five tie.

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MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.