Murray rolls into quarterfinals at Aussie Open

Tennis Betting Lines

01/22/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's runner-up Andy Murray was an easy winner Monday in fourth-round action at the Australian Open.

Murray, the No. 4 seed, improved to 16-2 in Melbourne over the last three years with a 6-1, 6-1, 1-0 victory over Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, who retired from the match due to an injury.

Murray lost to Novak Djokovic in last year's Aussie finale and was also the runner-up to Roger Federer two years ago.

Sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is currently in action against 24th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan. Fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer will take on 17th- seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet later Monday.

Spotsnetwork Tennis Betting News

<< 49ers CB Brown leaves after collision
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown left Sunday's NFC Championship Game late in the third quarter after colliding with a teammate. Brown and safety Dashon Goldson were both converging on

<< Kvitova reaches QFs at Australian Open
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - No. 2 seed Petra Kvitova reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open with a straight-set win Monday over Ana Ivanovic. Kvitova, the 21-year-old Czech who beat Maria Sharapova to win Wimbledon

<< Jennings, Bucks down Heat
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Jennings scored 23 points, dished out six assists and pulled down six rebounds, leading the Milwaukee Bucks over the Miami Heat, 91-82. Ersan Ilyasova added 16 points and six boards for the Bucks, wh

<< Brooks, Nets drop Bobcats
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - MarShon Brooks tallied a game-high 20 points with six rebounds as New Jersey handled Charlotte, 97-87, on Sunday evening. Deron Williams totaled 19 points and 10 assists for the Nets, who have won two of th

<< Virginia Tech takes down No. 15 Virginia
Charlottesville, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Erick Green scored 15 points, helping Virginia Tech pull out a 47-45 victory over No. 15 Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena. Dorenzo Hudson totaled 12 points, including a three-pointer in the closi

Forsman cruises to win at Mitsubishi Championship >>
Kaupulehu-Kona, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Forsman carded a three-under 69 Sunday to earn an easy two-stroke win over Jay Don Blake at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. Forsman got up and down for birdie on No. 14 to push his lead to thre

Ducks open up big lead, hang on late to down Avs >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bobby Ryan had two goals and Jonas Hiller made 43 saves, as the surging Anaheim Ducks held off the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2. Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who have won five in a row f

Giants top 49ers on FG in OT, win NFC title >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For the second time in five seasons, New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes got a chance to win the NFC Championship in overtime. He's 2-for-2. The extra minutes at Candlestick Park provided a cruel

Hibbert, Pacers hand Lakers 3rd straight loss >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant caught Roy Hibbert with an elbow, breaking the Pacers center's nose. "He didn't mean to do it," Hibbert said -- and apparently it wasn't broken enough. Hibbert scored all of his 1

Serena Williams upset at Australian Open >>
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Error-prone American Serena Williams was upset Monday at the Australian Open, knocked out in a straight-set loss to Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round. Williams, the No. 12 seed, hit 37 unfor

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.