Clijsters, Venus win U.S. openers
Tennis Betting Lines
08/30/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning champion Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams were both straight-set opening-round winners Monday at the U.S. Open.
The second-seeded former world No. 1 Clijsters got past Hungarian Greta Arn 6-0, 7-5 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Clijsters steamrolled Arn in 18 minutes in the bagel first set, but the Belgian then fell behind 0-4 in the second before rebounding to avoid a three- set afternoon. Clijsters won seven of the last eight games to advance and capture her 26th straight first-round match at a major.
"I'm happy with the way I served, Clijsters said. "That's obviously been a stroke that I've been paying a bit more attention to during my practicing the past few weeks. Today I felt like I was hitting the ball well."
The 27-year-old Clijsters is seeking her third U.S. Open championship, She beat Dane Caroline Wozniacki in last year's finale here and has now won her last 15 matches in Flushing. She also titled here in 2005 and skipped the 2006-08 editions due to either injury or retirement. Clijsters came out of retirement last summer and captured the U.S. Open in only her third tournament back.
Clijsters, who was also the U.S. Open runner-up in 2003, will meet Aussie Sally Peers in the second round in New York.
The third-seeded Williams, meanwhile, was a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Italian Roberta Vinci. The American fired 10 aces and won 83 percent of first-serve points.
Williams, 30, is also after her third career U.S. Open title. She won this event in 2000 and 2001, but bowed out in the fourth round last year and hasn't reached the semifinals since 2007. The former world No. 1 will face Canadian Rebecca Marino in the second round.
Fifth-seeded French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur fought back to beat Russian Elena Vesnina 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1, while sixth-seeded French Open champion Francesca Schiavone cruised with a 6-1, 6-0 dismantling of Japan's Ayumi Morita and former U.S. Open runner-up Elena Dementieva drubbed Belarusian Olga Govortsova 6-1, 6-2. Schiavone upset Stosur in June's Roland Garros finale. Dementieva reached the U.S. Open final in 2004.
Belarus' Victoria Azarenka, seeded 10th, got into the second round with a 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Romanian Monica Niculescu. Former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli, seeded 13th at this particular fortnight, moved on with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Romanian Edina Gallovits.
Sixteenth-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer handled Croat Jelena Kostanic Tosic 6-4, 7-5, while 19th-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta cruised past American Irina Falconi, 6-2, 6-1. Pennetta reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals in 2008 and 2009.
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, seeded 20th, doused German Kristina Barrois 6-4, 6-1 and 21st-seeded Zheng Jie of China straight-setted Timea Bacsinszky in double-tiebreak fashion, 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-1).
The 24th seed, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, humbled struggling former top- ranked star Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-4. The three-time major runner-up Safina, of Russia, was the top seed here a year ago, but has plummeted in the rankings ever since, mostly due to problems with a back injury.
Another former world No. 1, Serbian Ana Ivanovic, took an easy 6-3, 6-2 win over Ekaterina Makarova. Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion, had lost in the first round at last year's U.S. Open.
Other seeded victors on Day 1 were No. 27 Czech Petra Kvitova, No. 28 Russian Alisa Kleybanova, No. 29 Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko and No. 32 Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, who was a surprise Wimbledon semifinalist last month.
Last year's U.S. Open darling, American Melanie Oudin, advanced with a 6-3, 6-0 throttling of Ukrainian Olga Savchuk. The teenage Oudin reached the quarterfinals here a year ago, including huge upset victories over the two- time Grand Slam runner-up Dementieva and former U.S. Open champ Maria Sharapova.
Oudin was first up at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Day 1.
"It's a real honor to get to start the U.S. Open off on Ashe, first match." the 18-year-old Oudin said. "I thought it was pretty cool. I didn't expect that."
Additional Monday wins came for the aforementioned Peers and Marino, Hungarian Agnes Szavay, Frenchwomen Virginie Razzano and Pauline Parmentier, India's Sania Mirza, Austrian Sybille Bammer, Aussie Anastasia Rodionova, Italians Sara Errani and Maria Elena Camerin, Brit Elena Baltacha, Luxembourg's Mandy Minella, Argentine Gisela Dulko, and American Vania King.
The 2010 U.S. Open champion will earn at least $1.7 million.
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States men's national soccer team has announced a four-year contract extension for head coach Bob Bradley. The 52-year-old Bradley engineered the U.S. to an unbeaten mark in group play at this y
<< U.S. Soccer
Agreed to terms on a four-year contract extension with head coach Bob Bradley.
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Evan Longoria stroked a pair of hits and knocked in a
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Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago White Sox second baseman Gordon
Beckham left Monday's game against the Cleveland Indians after getting hit by
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<< Texans bring Daniels off PUP list; put Holliday, Tate on IR
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Monday, among them bringing tight end Owen Daniels off the physically unable
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Daniels passed his physical and is now able to participate in
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Heyward finished 4-for-5 with a three-run home run, four RBI and three runs scored as Atlanta dominated New York, 9-3, in the opener of a four-game series. Martin Prado added three RBI on two hits while
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Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - C.J. Wilson turned in 7 2/3 scoreless
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Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Bruce's single in the bottom of the 10th
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Division-leading Cincinnati Reds edged the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-4, in the
opener
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