Ljubicic wins Zagreb opener

Tennis Betting Lines

01/30/2012 - Zagreb, Croatia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Croatian tennis hero Ivan Ljubicic was a hard-fought opening-round winner Monday at the Zagreb Indoors tennis event.

The top-seeded Ljubicic slammed 16 aces and held off Slovak Karol Beck 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3 in 2 hours, 18 minutes on the indoor hardcourts at Dom Sportova. The former top-five star Ljubicic captured this tournament back in 2006.

A Croat has won four of the six titles here.

Fifth-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi handled German Daniel Brands 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), while seventh-seeded Dutchman Robin Haase moved on with a 6-2, 6-3 pasting of Croatian wild card Kristijan Mesaros.

Additional first-round wins came for German Matthias Bachinger and Slovak Lukas Lacko.

Wednesday's schedule will feature matches for second-seeded Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr., third-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny, sixth-seeded former champion Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and eighth-seeded Croat Ivo Karlovic. The former Australian Open runner-up Baghdatis was the Zagreb champ in 2007.

This week's titlist will collect $90,000.

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Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value

If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture.  Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).

For value, take a look at MySportsbook.com Oscars betting odds on my personal favorite, The Queen - a remarkable 12 to 1 long shot.  The film hasn't won any pre-awards for Best Picture (compared to The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine), but there is a tremendous following and it is a strong enough film to warrant a surprise win.

TV Guide advises Oscar watchers should be cautioned not to discount the  drama "Babel" with its strong social themes about overcoming communication gaps among people of different cultures.

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"It hasn't done well in the guilds, which means there isn't much industry support," said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, "But several critics are expecting it to win, and that gets my attention." Babel had 7 to 2 odds at press time.

Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash.  Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win. 

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.