Sharapova lands in Birmingham quarters

Tennis Betting Lines

06/10/2010 - Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time titlist Maria Sharapova won a pair of matches on Thursday in order to reach the quarterfinals at the rainy $220,000 Aegon Classic.

The second-seeded former world No. 1 Sharapova finally completed her second- round match by getting past American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-0, 6-3, and then erased fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-1 in a third-round affair.

Sharapova's match with Mattek-Sands was postponed here on Tuesday and suspended because of inclement weather on Wednesday. Rain also wreaked havoc on Thursday's schedule, as three third-round matches were pushed into Friday, along with the quarterfinal schedule at this grass-court Wimbledon tune-up.

The three-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova was the Birmingham titlist in 2004 and 2005 and the runner-up here in 2007. Her quarterfinal opponent on Friday will be capable Bulgarian qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva.

Top-seeded Li Na of China won her second-rounder, 6-2, 6-4 against Brit Anne Keothavong, on Thursday, and was tied with 13th-seeded German Angelique Kerber 4-6, 6-3 when their third-rounder was suspended for the day.

Li was last year's runner-up here to Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, who came up a third-round loser on Thursday. A 10th-seeded Rybarikova gave way to the aforementioned Karatantcheva 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2 at Edgbaston Priory Club.

Third-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer and fourth-seeded Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai were also among those forced into double duty on Day 4, as Wickmayer handled British qualifier Laura Robson 7-5, 6-4 in the second round and doused 14th-seeded Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-4 in the third, while Rezai bested Aussie Anastasia Rodionova 6-3, 6-4 in the second round and Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic 7-5, 6-3 in the third. Tanasugarn was the Birmingham runner-up in 2000.

Fifth-seeded Italian Sara Errani was leading Aussie Marina Erakovic 7-6 (7-5) after one set when their third-round match was suspended.

Meanwhile, American Alison Riske upset ninth-seeded Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 6-2, 6-4 in a second-round meeting and then overcame former top-10 Russian Anna Chakvetadze 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a third-round affair. The upstart Riske will meet Wickmayer in Friday's quarters.

In other second-round action involving seeds, No. 7 Belarusian Olga Govortsova lost to Portugal's Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 and the veteran Tanasugarn came back to best Indian Sania Mirza 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Other second-round winners were Lucic, Erakovic and Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi.

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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.