Roddick stunned; Federer, Nadal, Murray reach Wimbledon quarters

Tennis Betting Lines

06/28/2010 - Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Six-time champion Roger Federer, former champ Rafael Nadal and Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray were easy fourth-round winners Monday, while three-time runner-up Andy Roddick was stunned by Chinese Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu at Wimbledon.

The 82nd-ranked Lu ousted the fifth-seeded Roddick 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 9-7 on Court 2. Lu needed 4 hours, 36 minutes to pull off the stunner, which he did by breaking the former U.S. Open champion Roddick in the final game of the bout with a match-ending forehand winner.

This was the second-longest match of the fortnight, second only to the John Isner-Nicolas Mahut 11-hour, 5-minute record-setter here last week.

Both Lu and Roddick could manage only one service break apiece in the ultra- tight affair. The American unloaded 38 aces, while Lu settled for 22 en route to the biggest victory of his career.

Roddick, who seemed to be playing from behind throughout on Monday, forced a fifth set by closing out the fourth with a resounding ace, but he was unable to complete the comeback on Day 7. His loss leaves the men's draw without any Americans.

The 27-year-old Roddick said his return game "was really crap" on Monday and Lu "deserved to win out there."

The 26-year-old Lu is the first Asian man in 15 years to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal. He said it is "like a dream" to beat Roddick and reach Wimbledon's round of eight.

The former No. 1 Roddick is a three-time Wimbledon runner-up to Federer, including last year when the Swiss great prevailed in a 30-game fifth set in the blockbuster finale.

Lu will face Serbian star Novak Djokovic in Wednesday's quarterfinals.

The reigning titlist Federer dismantled French Open semifinalist Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 on Centre Court at the All England Club. The Austrian Melzer was seeded 16th here.

Federer dismissed the lefthanded Melzer in 1 hour, 24 minutes by swatting 11 aces, tallying a mere 11 unforced errors and piling up six service breaks, compared to only one break in only one break-point chance for the overwhelmed Austrian.

"I thought I played great," Federer said. "Aggressive right from the start."

The 28-year-old Federer, who is the top seed here despite being ranked second behind Nadal, will appear in his eighth straight Wimbledon and 25th straight overall Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Federer, who is also the reigning Australian Open titlist, is chasing a record-tying seventh Wimbledon title.

The 16-time major champion Federer now has 203 Grand Slam match wins, which ties him with Pete Sampras for fourth place on the men's all-time list.

Federer's quarterfinal opponent on Wednesday will be 12th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych, who overcame surprising German Daniel Brands 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5, 6-3. Berdych beat Federer at the Miami Masters event earlier this season. Federer bested Berdych in the fourth round here at Wimbledon back in 2006.

The second-seeded Nadal blew past Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in 1 hour, 57 minutes in a masterful performance. The Spanish strongman piled up five service breaks, compared to zero for his overmatched French counterpart.

The high-flying seven-time major titlist Nadal has won 28 of his last 29 matches, including a fifth French Open title four weeks ago. He captured his lone Wimbledon championship two years ago by beating Federer in one of the greatest tennis matches of all-time, and missed last year's tournament because of knee injuries.

Nadal's quarterfinal opponent will be two-time French Open runner-up Robin Soderling, who lost to Nadal in the Roland Garros finale earlier this month. Soderling shocked Nadal in the fourth round at the French Open last year, as Nadal was the reigning four-time champion in Paris at the time.

The fourth-seeded Murray, meanwhile, handled 18th-seeded American Sam Querrey 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. The 23-year-old Murray will appear in his third straight Wimbledon quarterfinal. He lost to Roddick in the semifinals here a year ago.

The 6-foot-6 Querrey was a grass-court champion at The Queen's Club in London three weeks ago.

The two-time major runner-up Murray, who is trying to give Britain its first male Wimbledon champion in 74 years, will encounter flashy Frenchman Jo- Wilfried Tsonga in the round of eight.

Murray has yet to drop a set at this 2010 fortnight.

In other action involving top-10 stars, a third-seeded Djokovic dismissed 15th-seeded former champion Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and the sixth- seeded Soderling outlasted ninth-seeded gritty Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-5. The ever-improving Swedish Soderling has been the runner-up in the last two French Open finals. The former world No. 1 Hewitt is a two-time major champion, including a Wimbledon title back in 2002.

A 10th-seeded Tsonga reached his first-ever Wimbledon quarterfinal by besting 32nd-seeded compatriot Julien Benneteau 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Tsonga was the Aussie Open runner-up two years ago.

The men will have the day off here on Tuesday, with all four quarterfinal matches scheduled for Wednesday at the AEC.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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