Jankovic outlasts Sharapova to capture Birmingham crown

Tennis Betting Lines

06/17/2007 - Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jelena Jankovic of Serbia rallied to beat Russia's Maria Sharapova in Sunday's final at the weather-plagued DFS Classic.

The rain finally held off Sunday and allowed play at this Wimbledon tuneup to finish, as one quarterfinal first needed to be completed before the semifinals and championship match were staged.

Jankovic, seeded second, notched a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 triumph for her fourth title of 2007 and the fifth of her career.

After Marion Bartoli finished off Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals, Sharapova and Jankovic both won semifinal matches. The top-seeded Sharapova toppled a tiring Bartoli with a 7-5, 6-0 triumph and Jankovic knocked off eighth-seeded Mara Santangelo, 6-1, 7-5.

Sharapova and Jankovic then took the court again later in the afternoon and played a thriller that lasted just five minutes shy of two hours.

Two breaks of serve gave Sharapova the first set, and the second set featured five breaks. Jankovic broke three times, including once to take a 5-3 lead. She finally held again to send the match to a decisive set.

Sharapova then raced out to a 3-0 lead in the third, but Jankovic rallied to win the next three games. A break in the 11th game gave Jankovic the lead once more and she quickly won the first three points on her serve in the next game before finally finishing it off to beat Sharapova for the first time in four all-time meetings.

The two hadn't faced each other since Sharapova claimed a three-set triumph in the final at this event two years ago. Sharapova also won this tournament in 2004.

Jankovic is having a stellar season. She won earlier this year in Auckland, Charleston and Rome, and lost a title match in Sydney.

Sharapova, who won the Wimbledon crown in 2004 and was a semifinalist in each of the past two years, is still trying for her first title of 2007. Her only other appearance in a final came at the Australian Open in January.

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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.


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