Clijsters, Venus roll into quarterfinals in New York
Tennis Betting Lines
09/05/2010 - Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending champion Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams each recorded straight-set victories in fourth-round play Sunday at the 2010 U.S. Open.
Clijsters needed just 59 minutes to post a 6-2 ,6-1 win over former World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic to advance into her fourth straight quarterfinal here, albeit in sporadic years starting in 2003.
The Belgian took advantage of Ivanovic's poor second serve, winning 76 percent of the points on her opponents lesser serve.
The two-time U.S. Open champ won seven straight games to move to 4-0 in the second set before cruising to the finish line. She won 70 of the 115 points played in the match.
Next up for Clijsters will be either fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur or 12th- seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, who face off later Sunday. Clijsters figures to have a good chance to advance to the semis, as she has a 3-0 lifetime record against Stosur while winning 11 of 14 matches in her career against Dementieva.
Williams, the No. 3 seed, took down 16th-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 to secure her spot in the quarters.
Williams, the last woman to win back-to-back US Open titles when she triumphed here in 2000 and 2001, improved to 6-0 in her career versus Peer, including four wins this year.
The American fired six aces past Peer to improver her career record here to 58-9. Williams will next do battle with reigning French Open champ and sixth-seeded Francesca Schiavone, who dominated 20th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-0.
Schiavone is through to the quarters here for the first time since 2003, while Pavlyuchenkova's best career run in a Grand Slam tournament came to a screeching halt.
Schiavone has an 0-7 career record against Williams.
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Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
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