Nadal, Federer win Rome openers; Murray falls

Tennis Betting Lines

04/29/2009 - Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and former world No. 1 Roger Federer highlighted Wednesday's second-round winners, while U.S. Open runner-up Andy Murray went by way of the upset at the $3.645 million Italian Masters tennis event.

The three-time Rome titlist Nadal whipped Italian crowd favorite Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-3, while a second-seeded Federer handled towering Croat Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 6-4 on the red clay at Foro Italico. Federer is now 8-1 all-time versus the 6-foot-10 Karlovic.

Nadal captured this event three years in a row from 2005-07, including a victory over Federer in the 2006 finale. Federer is a two-time runner-up at this French Open tune-up.

The reigning Australian Open, Wimbledon, French Open and Olympic champion Nadal is fresh off his fifth straight Barcelona and fifth consecutive Monte- Carlo clay-court championships. The super Spaniard has won his last 26 matches on red clay and is 143-4 on the surface since 2005, including 12-0 this season.

Nadal and Federer were two-of-eight seeds to receive opening-round byes this week.

Big Day-3 second-round upsets came when Argentine qualifier Juan Monaco knocked out a fourth-seeded Murray 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 and Austrian Jurgen Melzer toppled seventh-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). The Miami Masters champion Murray, who fell for only the fourth time all year, considers clay to be his least-favorite surface.

Fifth-seeded Argentine slugger Juan Martin del Potro advanced with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Serbian Viktor Troicki, while sixth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco continued his fine 2009 season with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 win over American Mardy Fish and eighth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon fought back to dismiss Italian wild card Fabio Fognini 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3.

In other second-round action involving seeds, No. 10 Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka beat Russian qualifier Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); No. 12 Chilean Fernando Gonzalez grounded Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 6-4; No. 13 Spaniard Tommy Robredo bested German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 7-6 (7-5); No. 15 Croat Marin Cilic held off Belgian Christophe Rochus 6-0, 5-7, 6-2; and No. 16 Czech Radek Stepanek stifled Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-1. Wawrinka was last year's Rome runner-up to Novak Djokovic. Gonzalez was the 2007 runner-up here to Nadal.

Three other second-rounders saw Swede Robin Soderling edge out Romanian qualifier Victor Crivoi 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-1, German qualifier Mischa Zverev drive out Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 and Frenchman Richard Gasquet get past Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. Mathieu, Gasquet and Stepanek saw double-duty here on Wednesday after rain disrupted the schedule here on Monday and Tuesday.

The first round finally concluded on Wednesday, as Gasquet upended ninth- seeded fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, Mathieu ousted 11th-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 and Stepanek outlasted France's Florent Serra 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 7-5. Ferrer was last week's Barcelona runner-up to the high-flying Nadal.

The third round will be staged here on Thursday, including matches for Nadal, Federer and a third-seeded Djokovic. Nadal will face Soderling, while Federer takes on Stepanek and the reigning Rome champion Djokovic meets Robredo.

The 2009 Rome titlist will take home $565,000.

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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs.