Clijsters, Azarenka move on Down Under

Tennis Betting Lines

01/16/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Defending women's champion Kim Clijsters and third-seeded Victoria Azarenka were opening-day winners at the 2012 Australian Open on Monday.

The 11th-seeded Clijsters, who struggled through an injury-filled 2011 campaign following her initial Melbourne triumph, downed Maria Joao Koehler 7-5, 6-1.

Azarenka made quick work of Britain's Heather Watson, earning a 6-1, 6-0 straight-set victory at Rod Laver Arena. She will look to improve upon last year's fourth-round finish in Melbourne. Her highest finish at this tournament came in the form of a quarter-final defeat in 2010.

Fifth-seeded Li Na of China ousted Ksenia Pervak 6-3, 6-1 at Hisense Arena. Eight-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska had a slightly rougher go in her first match at Melbourne, earning a hard-fought 6-7 (10-12), 6-4, 6-2 win over American Bethanie Mattek-Sands while 10th-seeded Francesca Schiavone earned an easy 6-1, 6-3 victory over Laura Pous-Tio.

Peng Shuai, seeded 16th, took a 6-3, 6-4 over Aravane Rezai. Early upsets saw Russia's Nina Bratchikova take down 19th-ranked Flavia Pennetta, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 and American Christina McHale beat 24th-seeded Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-4.

Also an early winner on Monday was 26th-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues, who recorded a 6-3, 6-3 win over Eva Birnerova. Additionally, Lesia Tsurenko topped Arantxa Rus 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, Eleni Daniilidou breezed by Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-3, 6-2, Australia's own Casey Dellacqua downed Bojana Jovanovski 6-3, 6-2, 20th-seeded Daniela Hantuchova squeezed past Varvara Lepchenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 and Paula Ormaechea bested Simona Halep 6-1, 3-6, 7-5.

Anastasiya Yakimova was also among the winners with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of Romina Oprandi, as was 22nd-ranked German Julia Goerges, who downed Polona Hercog 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). Petra Cetkovska, ranked 32nd, won 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 over Japan's Ayumi Morita, while Paula Ormaechea ousted Simona Halep 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 and Olga Govortsova ousted Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6-2, 6-4.

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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.