Top seeded Jankovic falls in Montreal

Tennis Betting Lines

08/17/2010 - Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Iveta Benesova, a qualifier from the Czech Republic, upended top-seeded Jelena Jankovic, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, Tuesday at the $2 million Rogers Cup, a U.S. Open tune-up. The event is being played on the hardcourts at Uniprix Stadium.

The former world No. 1, who had reached the final in this event in Toronto in 2007, Jankovic had an opportunity to claim the first set while serving with a 5-3 lead. However, Benesova broke Jankovic and held serve to even the match and eventually force the tiebreak.

Benesova, playing in her first event of the 2010 U.S. Open Series, held serve twice and broke Jankovic again to move in front, 3-0, in the second set. The Serbian closed to within 4-3, but Benesova broke Jankovic again and then served out the match to move into the third round.

Benesova had been winless on Canadian hardcourts in two prior tournaments and had been victorious only twice on hardcourts this season before dispatching Jankovic, the 2008 U.S. Open runner-up.

Meanwhile, form held throughout the day for the rest of the seeded players, as eighth-seed Vera Zvonareva had a much easier go of it in advancing to third round with a 6-2, 6-1 victory of Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan. The Moscow- born Zvonareva was the runner-up to Serena Williams at Wimbledon last month.

Ninth-seeded Li Na of China came back to win the final six games of the second set to dispose of Australian qualifier Jarmila Groth, 6-3, 6-2, to move into third round action.

In first round play, tenth-seeded Victoria Azarenka resumed her recent winning ways with a 6-1, 6-1 opening-round spanking of Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko. The world No. 13 Belarusian titled in Stanford three weeks ago and has now won six of her last seven matches. She dropped her opener in Cincinnati last week.

Former top-five Russian star Svetlana Kuznetsova was a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 first- round victor over fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Tuesday. The 11th-seeded Kuznetsova, like has Azarenka, has won six of her last seven outings, including a title in San Diego just two weeks ago.

In other opening-round play involving seeds, No. 15 Italian Flavia Pennetta topped Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-0, 7-5, No. 17 Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli blitzed Canadian wild card Valerie Tetreault 6-1, 6-0, and No. 18 Russian Nadia Petrova held off Czech Lucie Safarova 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

An all-American first-rounder saw Bethanie Mattek-Sands drive out fellow Fed Cup teammate Melanie Oudin, 6-1, 6-4. The qualifier Mattek-Sands will meet last week's Cincinnati champion Kim Clijsters in the round of 32. The former world No. 1 Clijsters, the reigning U.S. Open champ, is seeded fifth here this week.

Meanwhile, Russian Maria Kirilenko leveled Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 6-0, 6-3 and resurgent Hungarian Agnes Szavay snuck past Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) in round one.

Additional opening-round wins came for Russians Alisa Kleybanova and qualifier Ekaterina Makarova, Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm and Chinese Zheng Jie.

This week's winner will earn $350,000.

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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.