Jankovic, Dementieva advance to U.S. Open semis

Tennis Betting Lines

09/02/2008 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second seed Jelena Jankovic and fifth seed Elena Dementieva will meet in the semifinals at the U.S. Open after both posted victories on Tuesday.

The Serbian Jankovic, who was ranked No. 1 in the world for one week last month, defeated 29th seed Sybille Bammer of Austria, 6-1, 6-4. Earlier in the day, Olympic gold medalist Dementieva was an easy quarterfinal winner, besting 15th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-2, 6-3.

Jankovic, a semifinalist here two years ago, had just seven winners, but took advantage of 40 unforced errors from Bammer, who was the first mother since Peruvian Laura Arraya Gildemeister at 1991 Wimbledon to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal.

The fifth-seeded Dementieva won her 11th straight match. The Russian moved on in 1 hour, 16 minutes with the help of five service breaks, compared to only one for Schnyder.

The 26-year-old Dementieva is now 10-7 lifetime against the left handed Schnyder, including 2-0 at the U.S. Open, where the Russian prevailed in a fourth-rounder back in 2005.

Dementieva will appear in her fourth U.S. Open semifinal in nine years. She reached the final here in 2004, but lost to fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

"It feels much better to win in two sets," said Dementieva. "I remember me being in the final here, but I had such tough matches. It's very tough physically to be ready to play at your best in the final."

The two-time major finalist Dementieva was last month's gold medal winner at the Beijing Games, reached the quarterfinals at the French Open in June, and was a semifinalist at Wimbledon in July.

The other quarters will pit fourth-seeded Serena Williams against seventh- seeded Venus Williams and sixth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina versus 16th- seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta on Wednesday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Serena and Venus have advanced to their 24th and 29th Grand Slam singles quarterfinals, respectively. This is the 17th time both sisters have appeared in the quarterfinals of the same Grand Slam event; in a repeat of this year's Wimbledon final, Serena and Venus will take to the court against each other for the 17th time in their careers, with the lifetime head-to-head currently standing at eight wins apiece.

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Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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