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Ninth-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli handled fellow Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 7-5, 6-0, while German Sabine Lisicki, the 14th seed, advanced with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 win against Swiss Stefanie Voegele and 15th-seeded capable Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bested Czech Klara Zakopalova 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.
Several other women reached the round of 64, including Israeli Shahar Peer, Americans Vania King and Sloane Stephens, Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak, Chinese Zheng Jie, and Aussie favorite Jelena Dokic, who drubbed Russian and fellow former top-10 star Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-1. Zheng drilled American Madison Keys 6-2, 6-1, while King defeated Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 and Stephens stopped Spaniard Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-4, 6-2.
The second round will get underway on Wednesday, including matches for world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, third-seeded Victoria Azarenka, fifth-seeded 2011 Aussie Open runner-up and French Open champion Li Na and 11th-seeded reigning Melbourne titlist Kim Clijsters.
Also on Wednesday's schedule are eighth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska, 10th- seeded French Open runner-up and 2010 Roland Garros titlist Francesca Schiavone and 13th-seeded former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic.
The 24-year-old Djokovic lost two of the first three games to Italy's Paolo Lorenzi, then won a whopping 17 in a row to finish off a commanding 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win at the season's first Grand Slam event.
The three-time Grand Slam finalist Murray has been the Melbourne runner-up the last two years. He'll meet Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Thursday.
And American Andy Roddick, a four-time Aussie semifinalist who is seeded 15th at this particular fortnight, had little trouble in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 win over Dutchman Robin Haase.
Battling the heat, Djokovic popped four aces among his 22 winners against Lorenzi, who committed 30 unforced errors and won just 56 percent of his first serves at Melbourne Park.
Still, Djokovic bounced back to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and owns four career Grand Slam titles, including his first Aussie championship back in 2008.
He is trying to become only the fourth player on the men's side to win three or more Australian Open titles in the Open era (since 1968).
"I think it was a learning process for me in the last couple of years. I just have more confidence that I'm playing on right now," Djokovic said. "I just believe that I can win, especially against the biggest rivals in the major events."
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting