Youzhny, Almagro win openers in Gstaad

Tennis Betting Lines

07/27/2010 - Gstaad, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seeds Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Nicolas Almagro of Spain were a pair of first-round winners Tuesday at the Swiss Open.

Youzhny rolled past French lucky-loser Marc Gicquel 6-2, 6-2 in 72 minutes, while Almagro held off fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3 in 2 hours, 14 minutes on the clay courts at Roy Emerson Arena. Gicquel entered the draw when Kazakhstan's Evgeny Korolev exited it with a back injury.

Up next for Youzhny will be Swiss wild card Alexander Sadecky, while Almagro will encounter a Swiss wild card of his own, Michael Lammer.

Last year's Gstaad titlist, Thomaz Bellucci, went by way of the upset on Day 3, as the third-seeded Brazilian was knocked out in three sets by heavy Swiss crowd favorite Marco Chiudinelli, 7-6 (8-6), 0-6, 6-4, in 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Bellucci beat German Andreas Beck in last year's finale here.

Two other seeds exited the draw on Tuesday, as Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver tripped up No. 6 Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-4, 6-4 and Jeremy Chardy charged past No. 8 fellow Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-1, 6-3. The struggling Hanescu was the champion here two years ago, while Mathieu was the Gstaad titlist in 2007.

The 2009 Gstaad runner-up Beck continued his recent success at this event with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Argentine wild card Agustin Velotti on Tuesday.

Two other opening-round matches saw Finn Jarkko Nieminen edge out Brazil's Thiago Alves 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and Kazakhstan's Yuri Schukin get past fellow countryman Andrey Golubev 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3. The 23-year-old Golubev was fresh off his first-ever ATP title, last week in Hamburg.

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

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