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 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.