Melzer and Golubev advance to semis in Hamburg

Tennis Betting Lines

07/23/2010 - Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jurgen Melzer and Andrey Golubev were two of four quarterfinal winners at the German Open Tennis Championships on Friday.

Melzer dispatched Potito Starace of Italy, 6-4, 6-1, in only 69 minutes to reach the semifinals in a fourth tournament this season.

The Austrian, who recently reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at Roland Garros, fired eight aces to earn his 15th clay court win of the season.

Melzer will meet Italy's Andreas Seppi, who outlasted seventh-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, 7-6 (7-0), 5-7, 7-5 in three hours and 12 minutes.

Seppi, who has reached the semis for a second time in three years at this event, has won two of three prior matches against Melzer.

Saturday's other semifinal will feature Kazakhstan's Golubev and Germany's Florian Mayer. The two will face each other for the first time.

Golubev, who suffered no let down after knocking off defending champ Nikolay Davydenko Thursday, had a relatively easy time getting past Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, 6-4, 6-1. He will be trying to reach the final of an event for only the second time in his career, having done so previously in 2008 at St. Petersburg.

Mayer rallied to beat sixth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the final four of a tournament for the first time this year. He has put himself in position to reach a final for the first time since 2006.

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.