03/02/2007 - Las Vegas, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed and defending champion James Blake advanced to the quarterfinals in unusual fashion, while second-seeded Australian Lletyon Hewitt and third-seeded Russian Marat Safin survived hard fought three-set matches at the $416,000 Tennis Channel Open.
Blake was leading 6-1, 3-1 when his opponent, Juan Martin del Potro, retired because of breathing problems. Tournament rules state that games won or lost in a walkover do not count, meaning that Blake originally didn't receive credit for the win and was briefly eliminated with Russian Evgeny Korolev, who beat Blake earlier this week, taking his place in the next round. However, ATP officials overruled the call and put the American in the quarterfinals anyway.
"This has troubled me enormously and I feel as though I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't," ATP Executive Chairman and President Etienne de Villiers said. "It's in the interests of the fans, media, tournament and players to find a common sense solution. We have said all along we are going to learn from the experiment."
Del Porto was just as upset from the decision that was first rendered, saying he would have completed the match had he been fully aware of the implications of his retirement.
"I wanted to finish the match, but also I was not aware of the technicality of the rule," del Porto said. "I did not feel comfortable continuing."
Blake will next face Sam Querrey, who held off his fellow American Paul Goldstein 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Hewitt, who lost to Blake in last year's Las Vegas Final, dropped the first set to Swede Thomas Johansson but came back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, while Safin trailed 3-0 in the third set to fellow countryman Igor Kunitsyn only to rally for a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 victory.
Seventh-seeded Brit Tim Henman, making his 2007 season debut this week, will not compete in the quarterfinals after he lost to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-4. Lopez, however, did advance to the round of eight and will square off with Hewitt.
Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, meanwhile, awaits Safin in the quarterfinals.
Fourth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer and unseeded Czech Jan Hernych also landed in the quarters, as Melzer mauled Chilean Paul Capdeville 6-2, 6-2 and Hernych humbled former world No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten 6-4, 6-4. Melzer and Hernych went 2-0 in their round-robin groups this week at Darling Tennis Center. Melzer will meet Hernych in Friday's quarterfinals.
This week's event featured a 32-player round-robin, which consisted of a 16- player "play-off" where eight winners joined 16 other players to make-up eight groups of three players. Each player played two matches in the round-robin stage, with the winner from each group advancing to the quarters, where the tournament will now be played out per a traditional single-elimination format.
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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets
With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship. Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92. After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points. Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1. Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years. With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed. UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern. Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier. OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak. Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four. It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta. But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.
Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props. Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000. Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.
MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:
| EAST | National Championship | Region |
| Arkansas | 300-1 | 50-1 |
| Belmont | 1000-1 | |
| Boston College | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Eastern KY | 1000-1 | |
| George Washington | 75-1 | |
| Georgetown | 10-1 | 3-2 |
| Marquette | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Michigan State | 100-1 | 25-1 |
| New Mexico St. | 500-1 | 200-1 |
| UNC | 6-1 | 6-5 |
| Oral Roberts | 500-1 | |
| Texas | 15-1 | 5-1 |
| Texas Tech | 200-1 | 5-1 |
| USC | 75-1 | 20-1 |
| Vanderbilt | 100-1 | 30-1 |
| Washington State | 40-1 | 15-1 |
| WEST | ||
| Duke | 50-1 | 10-1 |
| Florida A&M | 1000-1 | |
| Gonzaga | 200-1 | 40-1 |
| Holy Cross | 300-1 | |
| Illinois | 300-1 | 60-1 |
| Indiana | 75-1 | 40-1 |
| Kansas | 5-1 | 13-10 |
| Kentucky | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Niagara | 1000-1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 40-1 | 8-1 |
| Southern Ill. | 50-1 | 12-1 |
| UCLA | 10-1 | 3-2 |
| VCU | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Villanova | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| VA Tech | 50-1 | 15-1 |
| Weber St | 1000-1 | |
| Wright St | 1000-1 | 300-1 |
| MIDWEST | ||
| Arizona | 50-1 | 30-1 |
| Butler | 40-1 | 30-1 |
| Davidson | 300-1 | |
| Florida | 4-1 | 4-5 |
| Georgia Tech | 75-1 | 25-1 |
| Jackson State | 1000-1 | |
| Maryland | 30-1 | 6-1 |
| Miami-OH | 300-1 | |
| Notre Dame | 100-1 | 20-1 |
| ODU | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Oregon | 40-1 | 6-1 |
| Purdue | 300-1 | 60-1 |
| Texas A&M CC | 1000-1 | |
| UNLV | 100-1 | 30-1 |
| Winthrop | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Wisconsin | 15-1 | 7-2 |
| SOUTH | ||
| Albany | 200-1 | |
| BYU | 200-1 | 40-1 |
| Central CT St. | 1000-1 | |
| Creighton | 100-1 | 35-1 |
| Long Beach St. | 500-1 | 200-1 |
| Louisville | 40-1 | 10-1 |
| Memphis | 30-1 | 4-1 |
| Nevada | 75-1 | 35-1 |
| North Texas | 500-1 | |
| Ohio State | 7-1 | 6-5 |
| Penn | 500-1 | |
| Stanford | 200-1 | 50-1 |
| Tennessee | 100-1 | 20-1 |
| Texas A&M | 12-1 | 11-5 |
| Virginia | 75-1 | 18-1 |
| Xavier | 100-1 | 40-1 |
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