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Raonic too strong for Istomin

February 20, 2012 By

The 21-year-old Canadian Milos Raonic has successfully defended his SAP Open title after beating the unseeded Denis Istomin in San Jose.

The big-serving Raonic won the final 7-6 6-2 to claim only the third ATP title of his career. Apart from his successes in San Jose, his other tournament victory came in the Chennai Open earlier this year. Those looking at the latest tennis odds should remember this.

He said after his latest victory: “I think I served pretty flawlessly throughout the week. I feel like I’m a much better tennis player than I was last year.

“First of all, it’s great to win it the first time. But coming back and being able to defend it means so much as well.”

There were no breaks of serve in the first set but Raonic raced into a 6-1 lead in the tie-break, eventually winning it 7-3. He then broke Istomin’s serve twice in the second set on his way to winning the final in just 79 minutes.

World number 32 Raonic’s serve was virtually unplayable. He won 90 per cent of points on his first serve and 94 per cent on his second, and faced no break points throughout the match.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Almagro won the Brasil Open for a third time by beating the Italian Filippo Volandri 6-3 4-6 6-4 in Sao Paulo. Fans of sports betting need to bear this in mind.

It was the defending champion’s11th title of his career, all of which have come on clay.
The Spaniard said after his victory: “Every title has a great place in my heart and it is very difficult to choose one. I take all three and I hope that next year will be four.”

Filed Under: Tennis

European revolution heading across the pond

February 16, 2012 By

Europe is dominating the world’s golf rankings and the man at the top of them all, Luke Donald, is set to lead the revolution heading into the first Major of the year at the US Masters.

Englishman Donald sits at number one in the world rankings and is followed by compatriot Lee Westwood, Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and Germany’s Martin Kaymer in the top four of the standings. Those looking at the golf odds will know they are real contenders.

Those four are heading over the pond to start their US domination at the WGC Accenture Match Play – which was the tournament in 2011 that started Donald’s monumental rise to the top and he will be looking for a repeat confidence-boost those following the US Masters Golf Betting should bear this in mind.

With Donald and Westwood having never won a Major title in their careers to date they will be determined to break that duck come the US Masters, but most eyes are likely to be on US Open champion McIlroy after his final-day collapse at Augusta 12 months ago.

Home fans will be hoping the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker can fight off the European threat. However, Donald reckons Ryder Cup success means the Europeans have gained “confidence” and aren’t afraid of taking on the US stars on their home turf.

“The European Tour is enjoying a great and rich vein of form,” he said. “We have the top four guys in the world rankings right now.

“But these things go in veins of form, and the European Tour is enjoying a great run right now. ”

Up to 92 golfers are set to descend Augusta National Golf Club for the 2012 US Masters, of which the organisers expect six amateurs and 14 first-time participants to take to the hallowed fairways.

Filed Under: Sports

Murray confirms Queen’s date

February 13, 2012 By

Andy Murray has confirmed that he will play at the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club this summer when he will be attempting to win the tournament for a third time.

The world number four beat James Blake 7-5 6-4 to win the 2009 final and last year edged past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6 7-6 6-4 in an enthralling rain-delayed final and those following the Betfair tennis odds will know just how at home he is in the tournament.

The 24-year-old said: “I’m excited to be going back to The Queen’s Club. It’s a great tournament and the grass courts are as good as anywhere in the world, so it’s the perfect preparation for Wimbledon.

“There’s always a great atmosphere and, having won the trophy twice previously, I have nothing but good memories. They also have one of the biggest trophies on the tennis circuit, and most of the Wimbledon champions are on it, so you know it’s a big deal. I’d love to win it again this year.”

Murray, whose coach Ivan Lendl won at Queen’s in 1989 and 1990, has enjoyed a good start to 2012, winning last month’s Brisbane Open before going on to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open where he was beaten by the eventual champion and current world number one Novak Djokovic.

He has now reached the semi-finals of the last five Grand Slam tournaments fans of UK betting sites will be wondering if he can push on to win to claim his first major title.

Meanwhile, Anne Keothavong has qualified for the main draw of the Qatar Open after beating another British player Heather Watson 6-4 6-4.Keothavong, the 28-year-old British number two, who also beat Laura Robson earlier in the qualifiers, will now play Tamira Paszek in the first round of the main draw.

Filed Under: Tennis

Crus team leaning towards RSA Chase bid

February 13, 2012 By

The signs are looking increasingly positive that the tremendously exciting Grand Crus will take his chance in the Grade 1 RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival next month rather than go in against the far more experienced heavyweights Long Run and Kauto Star in the Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup, writes Elliot Slater.

David Pipe’s high-class grey found only Big Buck’s too good for him last term in the staying hurdles division, finishing runner-up to Paul Nicholls’ legendary horse in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle and again at Aintree three weeks later. His switch to the larger obstacles could not have gone any better with the son of Dom Alco having won all three outings in tremendous fashion, beginning with his demolition of the very useful Champion Court on his chasing bow at Cheltenham in November. Anyone planning to bet Cheltenham 2012 money will have been impressed.

Pipe gave the seven-year-old just 13 day’s rest before asking him to step up into Grade 2 company to tackle the GPG Novices’ Chase at Newbury where once again Grand Crus had all bases covered as he readily accounted for another capable performer, Sonofvic, by a cosy two-lengths. A month later all eyes were on Kempton Park on Boxing Day where the 169-rated hurdler took on the best staying novices chasers of his generation in the Grade 1 Feltham Novices Chase, and he duly kept his unbeaten record over fences intact in proving too strong for the classy pair of Silviniaco Conti and Bobs Worth. All in all, his build up to Cheltenham Festival racing looks to be spot on.

Immediately after his Kempton win the talk was all about a possible bid by Grand Crus for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and he remains prominent in the ante-post list for the blue riband contest at a best priced 10/1, but the signs are increasingly that Pipe’s potential star chaser will stick with the novice route and go for the RSA Chase for which he is a strong 11/4 favourite.

Filed Under: Sports

Accident prone Esprit heads Irish Hennessey market

February 10, 2012 By

Willie Mullins’ Quel Esprit looks likely to be sent off favourite for what promises to be a tremendous and highly informative renewal of the Grade 1 Irish Hennessey Gold Cup at Leopardstown on February 12, writes Elliot Slater.

A tremendously talented performer who is capable of competing at a high level but is also prone to making mistakes, a trait that has seen him fail to complete in four of his last eight racecourse appearances, the eight-year-old has appeared to turn over a new leaf in recent outings with two solid victories, scoring at Naas in a four-runner affair in November before stepping up to win the Grade 3 Beamish Stout Phil Sweeney Memorial Chase by a ridiculously easy 15-lengths at Thurles in January. His jumping means question marks about his ability to cope with Cheltenham racing remain though.

Mullins will be keen to prove that his horse genuinely has what it takes to score at Grade 1 level having suffered an agonising series of calamities in top events when looking as if victory was very much on the cards. After falling at Leopardstown last February when in a close second pace in a top novice contest, Quel Esprit managed to prove even more frustrating when falling while in front at the third from home in the Grade 1 RSA Chase at last March’s Cheltenham Festival, in the race in which Bostons Angel beat Jessies Dream by a neck. Both those horses are set to re-oppose on Sunday and anyone with Cheltenham Free Bets will be following their progress.

Just when it looked as if things couldn’t get any worse, Quel Esprit was bounding along in the lead in the Grade 1 Growise Champion Novice Chase at the Punchestown Festival last May when bizarrely brought down by a loose horse after jumping the 11th fence! Few people would begrudge Mullins’ gelding his moment in the sun and he is generally rated a 5/2 favourite to land the spoils. Bookmakers rate Quel Esprit a 25/1 chance for the Ryanair Chase, and offer 33/1 about him winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Filed Under: Sports

Suarez ready for return to action

February 9, 2012 By

Paola Suarez is looking forward to “the most exciting challenge of my life” after deciding to come out of retirement.

The 35-year-old Argentinian retired from the game in 2007 after winning four singles and 44 doubles titles. Eight of those doubles titles came in Grand Slams when she was partnered with Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual, but she will team up with fellow Argentine Gisela Dulko in the build-up to the London Olympics. Those searching for Tennis betting tips will be wondering if the pair can make an impact.

Suarez won one Australian Open (2004), four French Opens (2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005) and three US Opens (2002, 2003, 2004) during her career.

Suarez and Pascual were runners-up three times at Wimbledon – in 2002, 2003, 2006.However, a hip injury forced Suarez to miss the second half of 2005 and she opted to go into retirement after the 2007 US Open.

Suarez said of her decision to start playing again: “One night in November, Gisela came to dinner with me and my husband. I’m not sure where it came from but suddenly I felt a great desire to meet the challenge.

“I’m going to do my best – I’ll work, practice and focus as hard as I can. It’s going to be the most difficult but most exciting challenge of my life.”

Suarez will take part in a tournament in Bogota next week before going on to appear in Monterrey, Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami anyone looking at the Betfair online betting should bear this in mind.

As well as being a superb doubles player, Suarez also reached a world singles ranking high of nine in June 2004.

She reached the semi-finals of the French Open that year as well as the last eight at Wimbledon. Suarez won through to the quarter-finals of the US Open in 2003 while her best display at the Australian Open was to reach the fourth round in 2001.

Filed Under: Tennis

Six Nations poised to be an exciting one

February 7, 2012 By

Although Six Nations rugby tournaments can be fairly predictable affairs, where the eventual winner is often all but decided by the state and timing of the fixture list, this year could well turn out differently, with the top teams and favourites in the bookmakers’ odds all getting off to a solid start to kick-start schedules that had looked, all in all, pretty tricky before the start of the tournament.

With France, England, and Wales all winning games that looked likely to test them (OK, Italy may not have been a stern “test” exactly for France, but nonetheless the Italians still put together a side that needed to be defeated), the trio of teams are going to be full of confidence when they come up against each other during the course of the tournament. http://betting.betfair.com/rugby-bet/rugby-union/six-nations-betting/

If the tournament continues to be as open and as exciting as it has been so far, with the main highlight so far surely the last gasp Wales win, although England fans may of course disagree, then we may not just be in for a good Six Nations, but perhaps one of the greatest tournaments of all time. Those looking at the Betfair rugby website will be keeping a close eye on things.

Ultimately, though, we’re still in the very early days of the six-week long tournament and this year’s renewal still very much has the potential to go according to form, with the French team destroying everything in its path, rather than stay an open and exciting tournament. With rugby fans across Europe, and further afield, looking forward to the action throughout the rest of the tournament, let’s just hope it continue to deliver on all fronts.

Filed Under: Sports

Venus to be ready for Fed Cup clash

February 2, 2012 By

Serena Williams insists that her sister Venus will be fit enough to represent the USA in their Fed Cup clash against Belarus later this month.

The 31-year-old five-time Wimbledon champion has not played any competitive tennis since she was forced to pull out of last year US Open because of an autoimmune disease.

“She’s coming along awesome. She’s doing really well,” said Serena Williams. “She doesn’t want to take it too fast, to come back too soon. But she’s been training every day recently, so I know she’s going to be ready.”

Serena, who has not played in the Fed Cup since 2007, will be one of Venus’ team-mates against a Belarus side that will include the new number one and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka. Fans of Betfair tennis will be hoping she gets back to her best.

“We’ve played on the same team a few times. We always have a blast. We always make the best of everything,” Serena added.

Serena lost in the fourth round of last month’s Australian Open to Ekaterina Makarova, two weeks after withdrawing from a warm-up tournament in Brisbane with a left ankle injury.

However, she is pleased with the way her body is recovering from the injury, saying: “I’ve actually been doing pretty well. I hit some balls. I trained a little bit. Every day it’s feeling better. It’s not 100 per cent. But it’s better than it was last week and two weeks ago. It just needs time to heal.”

Christina McHale, who reached the third round of last year’s US Open, doubles expert Liezel Huber and Sloane Stephens make up the rest of the American team. Those looking at the betting need to bear this in mind.

Azarenka’s team-mates will be Anastasia Yakimova, Olga Govortsova and Darya Kustova, the number 63, 114 and 650 singles players in the world.

Filed Under: Tennis

Mayhew has Suh regrets

January 27, 2012 By

Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew admits that he wishes the franchise had dealt with Ndamukong Suh’s on-field behaviour he was handed a suspension following his Thanksgiving day stamp against the green Bay Packers.

The NFL suspended the defensive tackle for two games after he stamped on Packers’ offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith right arm in the Lions 27-15 defeat in Green Bay. Those looking at the NFL odds will have been shocked by his actions.

Suh only had six penalties, a disqualification and three more personal fouls in the Lions’ first 11 games and had no personal fouls since the incident.

Suh incurred further furore when he initially refused to apologise for his unprovoked outburst leading to both him and his team coming in for further criticism. Those looking ahead to the Betfair Super Bowl 2012 will not have been impressed.

Mayhew now admits that the club could maybe have handle the situation better but believes the episode has made the 25-year-old a better person.

“It’s funny how things go. I think, early on, he had a couple of borderline sort of plays and, looking back on it, probably not enough people talked to him in those situations. And then when this thing happened, probably too many people talked to him,” Mayhew said.

“He had everybody — the guy driving the bus to the games had an opinion on what Ndamukong needed to do. I got letters from every sports psychologist and counsellor in the Detroit metro area.

“Ndamukong’s a very, very intelligent person, intelligent football player.”

He added that he hoped the player would put things behind him and he would go in to become even better than he is now.

Filed Under: Tennis

Indoor skiing in the UK

January 24, 2012 By

For a country with so few opportunities to ski, people in the UK really love skiing. Perhaps it’s the psychology of wanting to do something because there are so few opportunities to do it?
The good news is that there are an ever-increasing number of indoor and outdoor skiing opportunities all over the country.

The outdoor ones tend to use a plastic mesh and are perfectly good for learning how to ski, but the indoor centres are more like the real thing.

There are now (or soon will be …) nine places you can go indoor skiing in the UK. They usually offer something else on a cold theme in addition to skiing such as ice skating – and other general entertainments – and are designed to be fun days out for the whole family.

And they use a “real” snow – or something as close to it as makes no difference. Of course, they’re basically giant fridges so can be used all year round. And they are cold – so you will need warm clothing, thick socks, and thermal gloves.

But you do tend to get very warmed up once you get moving just as with real skiing in the mountains. You can usually hire the necessary equipment at each centre including skis or snowboards, waterproof jackets and trousers and you won’t need specialist snow equipment like boots, or crampons etc.

The eight existing indoor skiing centres moving north to south throughout the UK are “Xscape Braehead”, Braehead, Renfrew, in Scotland, “Chill Factore”, Trafford Quays Leisure Village, Trafford Way, Manchester, “Xscape Castleford”, Colorado Way, Glasshoughton, Castleford, Yorkshire, “Ski Village, 4 Vale Road, Sheffield, “SnOasis”, Great Blakenham, Suffolk, “Snowdome”, Leisure Island, River Drive, Tamworth, “Xscape Milton Keynes”, 602 Marlborough Gate, Central Milton Keynes, and “The Snow Centre”, St Albans Hill, Hemel Hempstead. Meanwhile, the “Cornwall Winter Park” is coming soon and will be situated between Newquay and St Austell.

Filed Under: Indoor Sports Tagged With: , , , ,
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