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Sister Act 4: Serena, Venus to meet in fourth Wimbledon finalTennis Betting Lines07/02/2009 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Second-seeded Serena Williams and third- seeded Venus Williams will square off in Saturday's ladies' final at Wimbledon, where Venus topped Serena in last year's third all-Williams finale at the All England Club. In one of the best women's matches played here in some time, the two-time champion Serena snuck past Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 8-6 on Thursday, while the other semifinal was one of the most-lopsided played here in a while, as the five-time titlist Venus destroyed world No. 1 Russian Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0 in a laughable 51 minutes. Venus topped Serena 7-5, 6-4 in last year's final, as Venus nailed down a second straight and fifth overall Wimbledon title. Saturday will mark the fourth all-Williams Wimbledon final, with Serena holding a 2-1 edge thus far. This marked the first time since 2006 that all four top-seeded women reached the semifinals at a Grand Slam event. Serena and Venus are former world No. 1s, which means three of the four semifinalists have held the coveted top ranking. In Thursday's first semi, Serena outlasted the fourth-seeded Dementieva in a three-set thriller. The reigning Australian Open and U.S. Open titlist Serena also topped Dementieva in a semifinal at the Aussie Open back in January. Serena and Dementieva traded breaks in the first two games of the match on Day 10 and Serena appeared on the verge of another break in the eighth game with a 40-15 lead. Dementieva, however, dug out of the hole to hold serve and the set eventually went to a tiebreak on yet another hot, sunny day here. A pair of Serena errors gave Dementieva the advantage in the tiebreak. The American ripped a forehand wide and netted another forehand on consecutive points to give the Russian a 6-3 edge. Dementieva quickly gave one back with a double fault and misfired on her next serve, but Serena blasted a forehand wide on the second serve to give Dementieva the opening set. In an equally-as-tight second set, Dementieva eventually had opportunities to break Serena to knot the stanza at 6-all, especially on one particular point when the athletic Russian swatted a two-handed backhand out despite having a wide-open court. Serena would wind up with a hold to force a deciding third set. In the dramatic final set, Dementieva appeared to assume some control when Serena double-faulted and then netted a forehand to give the Russian a break and a 3-1 lead. But Dementieva was unable to consolidate the break, as her American counterpart broke right back and then held her serve to level the third at 3-3. The two stars then stayed on serve over the next several games, trading monster forehands and backhands from the baselines. Following a Dementieva hold, the Russian got herself to a match point in the 10th game of the stanza, but a gutsy Serena staved it off by following up a net approach with a clutch backhand volley winner. Serena wound up with a hold to make it 5-all, and three games later, the powerful American recorded a huge service break with a backhand winner for a 7-6 edge. In the next game, Serena set-up her first match point with a forehand winner and converted on it when Dementieva misfired wide with one final backhand after 2 hours, 49 minutes of spectacular tennis on the famed Centre Court. Serena launched 20 aces among her 45 winners, while Dementieva recorded 27 winners and had her serve broken five times. The two-time major runner-up from Russia settled for three breaks in the gut-wrenching setback. The 27-year-old Dementieva reached the French and U.S. Open finals in 2004 and won the gold medal in Beijing last year. She has lost in the Wimbledon semis the last two years, with last year's setback coming against the Wimbledon queen Venus. The 10-time major champion Serena will now appear in her 14th career Grand Slam final (10-3). She captured Wimbledon titles in 2002 and 2003 by beating her big sister in finals and was the runner-up here in 2004 and last year. The 27-year-old Serena owns 33 career singles titles, including this year's Aussie Open crown. Meanwhile, Venus crushed a helpless Safina by breaking the Russian's weak serve five times in six tries. The American great also tallied 16 winners, including fives aces, compared to only six winners for a stunned Safina. And while Safina was piling up 16 unforced errors, Venus committed only one in 13 games. The 23-year-old Safina came here having reached three of the last five major finals. She was upset by fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in last month's French Open finale and dismantled by Serena in January's Aussie Open title tilt. Venus, who hasn't lost on Centre Court since 2004, has won 35 straight sets at the world's most prestigious tennis event. The tall American is now 68-9 all- time on grass overall, including 64-7 at Wimbledon. The 29-year-old seven-time major champion Venus, like Serena, will also appear in her 14th Grand Slam final (7-6), including her eighth at the All England Club (5-2). She owns 41 career titles, including ones in Acapulco and Dubai this season. The mighty Williams sisters have combined for seven of the last nine Wimbledon titles. Serena and Venus will meet for a 21st time, as the superstar siblings have split their first 20 matchups. Serena is 4-3 when they've met in Grand Slam finals.
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Horse Betting(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine). The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late. "You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest. "A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve." When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential: CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped. DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins. PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge. You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike. "You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders." Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of. (By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.) Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout." But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing." Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you." Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front." All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold. In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse. "Now," says Avello, "it's time for action." To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs. |
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