Nadal and Djokovic sneak into fourth round at Indian Wells

Tennis Betting Lines

03/15/2010 - Indian Wells, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - World No. 2 Novak Djokovic barely survived his third-round match Monday at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open, an ATP World Tour Masters event, while world No. 3 Rafael Nadal cruised in two sets against Croatia's Mario Ancic.

The second-seeded Djokovic outlasted 25th-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3) on the hardcourts at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The 2008 Indian Wells titlist Djokovic staved off three match points while trailing 4-5 in the third set here on Day 5.

Djokovic prevailed in 2 hours, 35 minutes with a match-ending inside-out forehand winner. Up next for Djokovic will be 20th-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic.

The third seed Nadal dominated Ancic 6-2, 6-2 to also move to the fourth round. The Spaniard won 96 percent of his first serve points, 86 percent of total service points and is 4-1 all-time against Ancic.

The former top-ranked Nadal defeated Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray in last year's finale here. Nadal also captured the Indian Wells title in 2007. The six-time major champion Nadal is seeking his first title of any kind since May of last year.

Nadal got by his opponent in 1 hour, five minutes, recorded five aces and will meet either 15th-seeded John Isner or 17th-seeded Sam Querrey.

Czech Tomas Berdych, the 19th seed, maneuvered through No. 10 Fernando Verdasco of Spain in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3. Berdych will face 29th-seeded Victor Troicki in the next round.

Tough Argentine Juan Monaco, seeded 21st here, upset 11th-seeded former world No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-3.

Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, the 20th seed, took down unseeded Argentine Brian Dabul, 6-2, 6-3. Ljubicic will next take on Djokovic. The contest lasted 1 hour 20 minutes with Ljubicic racking up 17 aces.

Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez upset No. 26 seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Garcia-Lopez will face Monaco.

The men's third round will conclude here on Tuesday, including matches for world No. 1 superstar Roger Federer, a fourth-seeded Murray and seventh- seeded Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick. The 16-time major titlist Federer will tangle with 27th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

This week's winner will collect $605,500.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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