Two seeds, Safin move on; Moya falls in Sweden

Tennis Betting Lines

07/08/2008 - Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Seventh-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, eighth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling and Wimbledon semifinalist Marat Safin all advanced, while fifth-seeded Spaniard Carlos Moya was sent packing Tuesday at the Swedish Open.

Italian Potito Starace saved a match point in a 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 upset of the former world No. 1 Moya on the red clay at Bastad Tennis Stadium. Moya titled here back in 2002.

Nieminen, meanwhile, completed a suspended match from Monday by dousing Argentine Sergio Roitman 6-4, 6-2, while Soderling held off Italian Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 and an unseeded Safin, playing here for the first time in 10 years, bested Spanish qualifier Marc Lopez 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.

In other action involving Swedes, 36-year-old Jonas Bjorkman leveled Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-1; 2002 Australian Open titlist Thomas Johansson stopped wild card and compatriot Filip Prpic 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; wild card Michael Ryderstedt dismissed lucky-loser and fellow Swede Tim Goransson 6-1, 6-2; and wild card Ervin Eleskovic erased Italian Filippo Volandri 6-4, 6-4. Goransson joined the draw when sixth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils pulled out with an ankle injury.

Additional Day-2 wins came for Belgians Olivier Rochus and Steve Darcis.

This week's top seed is also the defending champion, David Ferrer. The Spaniard defeated fellow countryman Nicolas Almagro in last year's finale.

Ferrer, who received an opening-round bye this week, will open defense of his title against Serbian Boris Pashanski.

The 2008 Bastad titlist will pocket $85,000.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.