Berdych and Youzhny to play for Munich title

Tennis Betting Lines

05/09/2009 - Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic and Russia's Mikhail Youzhny won semifinal matches Saturday and will play for the title on Sunday at the BMW Open.

The fourth-seeded Berdych earned a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 victory over France's Jeremy Chardy, while Youzhny rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph over German wild card Daniel Brands.

Berdych will play in a final for the first time this year and will try to improve upon his career mark of 4-4 in ATP title matches. He was 1-1 last year, losing in Bastad and winning in Tokyo in October.

This year had been a struggle for Berdych, as he had not been past the fourth round in any tournament before this week.

On Saturday, Berdych had his serve broken just once and fired 10 aces. He will try to become the first Czech player to win in Munich since Jiri Novak in 2001.

Youzhny will play in his second Munich final, having lost to Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in the 2007 title match. Like Berdych, Youzhny is also 4-4 in ATP finals. The last of his four titles came in January 2008 in Chennai.

Brands had Youzhny on the ropes Saturday, but could not convert any of the four break point chances he had in the eighth game of the third set. Youzhny managed to hold serve for 4-4, then broke Brands' serve in the next game before holding his own to close it out.

Youzhny owns a 5-3 career record against Berdych, including a semifinal win at this event in 2007. The two will meet for the third time in 2009, having split the first two. Youzhny won a first-round match in Marseille back in February and Berdych returned the favor a month later in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Both went three sets.

Sunday's winner will collect a first prize of $95,000.

Wwwwon Tennis Betting News

<< Safina blasts Kuznetsova for Rome title
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dinara Safina got the better of her fellow Russian this week with a straight-set victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final at the Italian Open. The top-seeded Safina rolled to a 6-3, 6-2 win on Saturd

<< Gomez scores four times as Stuttgart topples Wolfsburg
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mario Gomez thrashed Wolfsburg for four goals as he led Stuttgart to a 4-1 win over the Bundesliga leaders at Mercedes Benz Arena on Saturday. Gomez scored twice in the opening 20 minutes, and after

<< Daly was one of the best
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two months ago Chuck Daly was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Today, the Hall of Fame coach is gone. The "Good Guy" of the "Bad Boys" passed away at the age of 78 at his home in Jupiter. Fla. on Saturday morning.

<< Davis helps Rangers take over top spot
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A goal from Steven Davis in the 37th minute was enough to see Rangers past Celtic, 1-0 at the Ibrox Stadium on Saturday. The win moves Walter Smith's side two points clear of the Hoops at the t

<< Mets manager Manuel suspended one game
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets manager Jerry Manuel has been suspended for one game and fined an undisclosed amount for making contact with an umpire during an argument in a game on Thursday. Major League Baseball made th

Gerrard helps Liverpool continue winning ways >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Gerrard scored a pair of first-half goals to lead Liverpool to a comfortable 3-0 win over West Ham at Upton Park on Saturday. The win moves Rafael Benitez's team to the top of the league table

Vancsik still on top at Italian Open >>
Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After a long weather delay Saturday, Daniel Vancsik closed out a two-under 69 to finish three rounds with a one-stroke lead at the Italian Open. Vancsik completed 54 holes at 11-under-par 202. He wi

Dementieva cruises in Madrid, advances to second round >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Elena Dementieva of Russia had little trouble disposing of American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in first round action at the inaugural $4.5 million Madrid Open. The third-seeded Dementieva needed just unde

Reyes, Mets handle struggling Pirates >>
Flushing, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jose Reyes went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored as the New York Mets pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-1, in the second of a three-game set at Citi Field. Carlos Beltran hit a solo home run and

Davydenko-Blake match suspended, Montanes rolls in Estoril >>
Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three-time finalist Nikolay Davydenko and fourth-seeded American James Blake had their match suspended due to darkness, but seventh-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes made short work of Chilean Paul

College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.