Almagro to face Gasquet for Gstaad crown

Tennis Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - Gstaad, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nicolas Almagro of Spain and France's Richard Gasquet were semifinal winners Saturday and will meet for the title at the Swiss Open Gstaad.

The second-seeded Almagro earned a 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3 victory over fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver, while the seventh-seeded Gasquet advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Kazakhstan's Yuri Schukin.

Almagro needed to save a set point in the first-set tiebreaker before winning it, but Gimeno-Traver saved a pair of break-point chances against his serve in the second set and converted one of his two to even the match. Almagro then opened a quick 3-0 lead in the third and closed out the match in two hours to advance to his second ATP final in the past three events.

The world's 18th-ranked player notched his sixth career title and first of 2010 two weeks ago by stunning crowd favorite Robin Soderling in the final at the Swedish Open.

Almagro is 6-2 all-time in ATP finals, all of which have come on clay.

Gimeno-Traver was denied his first-ever ATP final for the second straight event. He lost to Gael Monfils in the semifinals of the Mercedes Cup two weeks ago.

Gasquet will appear in his third final of the year. He lost to Marcos Baghdatis in Sydney back in January and beat Fernando Verdasco in Nice just before the start of the French Open.

Saturday's match against Schukin, who was playing an ATP semifinal for the first time after Friday's stunning quarterfinal win against top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny, was not too difficult for the 47th-ranked Frenchman.

A break in the eighth game enabled Gasquet to take the first set and he broke again for a 4-3 lead in the second, then finished the match in just 88 minutes.

Gasquet is 6-7 all-time in ATP finals and won this tournament back in 2006.

Almagro won the lone previous meeting with Gasquet, rallying from a set down to capture a second-round match in Acapulco back in February.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.