Federer advances in hometown Basel event

Tennis Betting Lines

10/21/2008 - Basel, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning two-time champion and Basel native Roger Federer highlighted Tuesday's opening-round winners at the $1.2 million Swiss Indoors Basel.

The top-seeded/former world No. 1 Federer fought past American Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 on Day 2 at St. Jakobshalle.

Federer, who captured a fifth straight U.S. Open last month for his 13th career major title, has won the last two titles here, including a victory over Finn Jarkko Nieminen in last year's Basel finale.

In other matches involving seeds on Day 2, second-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian leveled Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-2, third-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro handled Swiss qualifier George Bastl 6-2, 6-4 and Italian Simone Bolelli knocked out seventh-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5. Nalbandian titled here back in 2002.

Additional wins came for Spaniard Oscar Hernandez, Germans Andreas Beck, a wild card this week, and Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Swiss wild card Stephane Bohli.

On Wednesday, fourth-seeded American James Blake will battle German Nicolas Kiefer in a first-rounder and eighth-seeded American Mardy Fish will tangle with Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the second round.

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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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