11/16/2008 - Shanghai, China (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic defeated Russian star Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets on Sunday to capture the championship at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup.
The second-seeded Djokovic handled the fourth-seeded Davydenko 6-1, 7-5 on Day 8 at Shanghai's Qi Zhong Stadium.
The 21-year-old Djokovic prevailed in 1 hour, 42 minutes, as he broke Davydenko's serve four times, compared to only one break for the 27-year-old loser.
Djokovic raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set and never looked back.
Davydenko actually saved some match points while trailing 3-5 in the second set and would eventually pull even in the stanza, but the inspired Serb was just too much for him on Day 8 and Djokovic ultimately closed out the match with an unreturnable serve.
"For me I think was today a very difficult day," said Davydenko. "He played very good."
"Against Djokovic you need to be perfect, also play very fast and very good. That's what he did, and I didn't. I really had no chance."
Djokovic, who won this week's four-player Gold Group, went 4-1 for the week, including a victory over Davydenko in the round-robin portion of the event. Davydenko wound up 3-2 for the week, with both losses coming against Djokovic.
The world No. 3 Serbian Djokovic is now 2-1 lifetime against the world No. 5 Davydenko, with all three meetings coming this year. The speedy Russian prevailed in a Davis Cup bout earlier in the season.
The Belgrade native Djokovic now owns 11 career titles in 17 finals and went 4-3 in his 2008 title tilts. Davydenko went 3-2 in five finals this season, including a big Masters Series title in Miami. He dropped to 14-5 in his career ATP finals.
Djokovic captured his first-ever major title at the Aussie Open back in January. He went 64-17 this year and captured a bronze medal at the Olympic Games here in China.
The 6-foot-3 Djokovic pocketed $1.24 million this week, while Davydenko settled for $615,000 at this exclusive $4.45 million tournament.
Swiss great Roger Federer won this event the last two years, but was eliminated from semifinal contention by Scottish star Andy Murray here on Friday. Davydenko upset a weary Murray in Saturday's semis.
In Sunday's doubles final, the second-seeded tandem of Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking by dousing the top-seeded duo of American twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. The 2003 and 2004 Masters Cup champion Bryans had been the year-end No. 1 team the previous three years.
Nestor-Zimonjic went 3-1 against the Bryans this season.
The 36-year-old Nestor, paired with Bahamian Mark Knowles, also captured the Masters Cup doubles title last year.
This prestigious event will shift to London next year.
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While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.
Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.
The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.
What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.
These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.
College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.
Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.
Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.
Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.
I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.
Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.
It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.
As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.
Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NCAA college football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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