Federer, Murray, Roddick victorious at BNP Paribas Open

Tennis Betting Lines

03/15/2010 - Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Three-time champion Roger Federer won his second-round match Sunday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour Masters event.

Federer captured his fifth lifetime matchup without a loss against Romanian Victor Hanescu, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1. The top-ranked Swiss Federer, who won the title from 2004-06, played his first match since capturing his 16th career Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open on January 31.

Fourth-seeded Scotsman Andy Murray also went through to the third round with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Italian Andreas Seppi. Murray is last year's runner-up, losing to Rafael Nadal in the final.

Sixth seed Robin Soderling of Sweden advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan's Evgeny Korolev, while American Andy Roddick, the seventh seed, topped Chinese Taipei qualifier Yen-Hsun Lu, 6-4, 6-4.

Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France defeated Australian Marinko Matosevic, 6-1, 6-3, but seeds 12 through 14 were all upset victims. Germany's Simon Greul upended 12th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; American James Blake stopped 13th-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, 6-1, 6-4; and Israeli Dudi Sela downed 14th-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.

Tommy Robredo, the 18th seed, topped Sergiy Stakhovsky, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Jurgen Melzer, seeded No. 22, defeated David Nalbandian, 6-4, 6-1.

Three other seeded players fell on Sunday. No. 23 Ivo Karlovic was beaten by Nicolas Almagro, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). Janko Tipsarevic, the 30th seed, was down 3-2 in the first set against Thiemo De Bakker when he retired due to an abdominal strain. Igor Andreev, the 32nd seed, lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Michael Russell.

Other second-round winners on Sunday were No. 24 seed Albert Montanes, No. 27 Marcos Baghdatis and No. 28 Feliciano Lopez.

Fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko withdrew from the tournament due to a broken left wrist. Davydenko is expected to be sidelined the next four weeks. Because of the withdrawal, Serbian Viktor Troicki will get a walkover into the fourth round of the tournament.

This week's winner will collect $605,500.

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Betting Football

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.