Bartoli moves on; Wickmayer exits New Haven

Tennis Betting Lines

08/24/2010 - New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli advanced, while 2009 U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer went by way of the opening-round upset Tuesday at the $600,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event, a final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up.

The sixth-seeded Bartoli, of France, barely snuck past Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, while the fifth-seeded Wickmayer, of Belgium, succumbed to Swiss Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-1 at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale. Bartoli needed 2 hours, 39 minutes to stave off a game Bondarenko.

Bartoli's second-round opponent will be Aussie Anastasia Rodionova.

Seventh-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta reached the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 decision against Russian Alisa Kleybanova.

Additional opening-round wins came for the aforementioned Rodionova, Belarusian Olga Govortsova and Russian Maria Kirilenko, who bested last year's New Haven runner-up and fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1, 3-6, 6-1. Vesnina, a qualifier this week, lost to U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki in last year's Pilot Pen finale.

Wozniacki, this week's top seed, is the two-time reigning New Haven champ and fresh off her title in Montreal on Monday.

The 2010 Pilot Pen champion will collect $98,500.

Hocey Tennis Betting News

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If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture.  Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).

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Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash.  Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win. 

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