Sister Act 4: Serena, Venus to meet in fourth Wimbledon final
Tennis Betting Lines
07/02/2009 -
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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NCAA Football Betting
Many fans thought it was the best side in the nation by the end of last season. This year, the polls have built on Georgia's momentum and granted it the No. 1 preseason ranking, followed by Ohio State and USC. (The Associated Press has the Buckeyes at No. 2; USA Today took the Trojans.)
"To have people believing we have one of the best teams in the nation going into this thing, it's exciting for us," Bulldogs coach Mark Richt told the AP. "I don't think anything is guaranteed, but we certainly have put ourselves in position where at least the college football world thinks we're pretty good."
Georgia Bulldogs - 9.5 wins
There's no question they're good, but the Bulldogs have one of the toughest 12-game schedules in the nation, mostly because they play in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference. Away games at No. 15 Arizona State, No. 7 LSU and No. 10 Auburn loom large, with contests between the hedges versus No. 24 Alabama and No. 18 Tennessee as well as the World's Largest Cocktail Party in Jacksonville versus No.5 Florida.
Ohio State Buckeyes - 10 wins
Like the Bulldogs, the Buckeyes also have a number of tough road contests in 2008. After two scrimmages dressed up as real games versus Youngstown State and Ohio, it's off to face USC. Other tough away games include No.13 Wisconsin in October and No. 20 Illinois in November. Granted, it should be pretty easy sledding at the Horseshoe. In fact, the only ranked team that travels to Columbus is No. 22 Penn State, in October.
USC Trojans - 10.5 wins
A similarly light schedule awaits the Trojans of Southern California, which is why the oddsmakers' total is one win more and the over is currently commanding -150 odds. Pete Carroll's troops only play three ranked teams in 2008, and all of those games are at home. After what should be an easy trip to Virginia to start things off on Aug. 30, the Trojans get two weeks to prepare for Ohio State in Los Angeles. Their two other ranked opponents, No. 21 Oregon and No. 15 Arizona State, visit in consecutive weeks to start the month of October. After that, the competition eases up. Of course, this is the same highly-touted school that lost to Stanford in 2007 and Oregon State in 2006. And don't discount the fact that USC plays its biggest rivals, Notre Dame and UCLA, back-to-back to close out the regular season. On paper, the Trojans are far superior, but motivation will be high for the Irish and Bruins, especially if their historic foes are in national-title contention.
Odds to Win the Heisman Trophy
Tim Tebow, Florida - 7/2
He won it last year, so it's no surprise he's the favorite to do it again, making him just the second player to go back-to-back. Ohio State's Archie Griffin turned the trick in 1974 and 1975, and Tebow's coach, Urban Meyer, is pretty sure his star quarterback can match the Buckeyes legend.
"There has never been anyone quite like him," Meyer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I am very lucky to be his coach."
Chris Wells, Ohio State - 5/1
The man they call "Beanie" was a star recruit out of high school, so it's not like nobody knew who the star tailback was before he rushed for 576 yards as a freshman in 2006 and 1,609 as a sophomore. But perhaps his finest moment came last year versus Michigan when he rumbled for 222 yards and two touchdowns in the Buckeyes' 14-3 victory over the hated Wolverines.
Knowshon Moreno, Georgia - 8/1
If the Bulldogs are to live up to expectations, they'll need a huge effort from their sophomore running back. This might be the last year of college ball for Moreno, who rushed for 1,334 yards and for 14 touchdowns as a freshman, while adding 253 receiving yards on 20 receptions, so expect big things for the man from Belford, N.J.
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