Nadal cruises into Rome final; Djokovic rallies past Federer

Tennis Betting Lines

05/02/2009 - Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rafael Nadal continued his clay-court dominance, and defending champion Novak Djokovic rallied from a set down to beat Roger Federer in semifinal action at the Italian Masters.

Nadal, a three-time Rome champion, easily handled Chile's Fernando Gonzalez in a 6-3, 6-3 triumph to run his clay-court winning streak to 29 matches. He is 146-4 on the surface since 2005, including a perfect 15-0 this season.

Djokovic, in the first semifinal of the day, took advantage of a rain delay in the second set to regroup and rally from a set and a break down to earn a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Federer.

The third-seeded Serb beat Federer for the first time in three meetings on clay and improved to 4-7 lifetime against the second-ranked Swiss superstar.

Federer, who also lost to Djokovic in the Miami semifinals last month, has yet to win a title in 2009. His lone appearance in a final was a five-set loss to Nadal at the Australian Open.

Nadal had little trouble Saturday against the 12th-seeded Gonzalez in a rematch of the 2007 Rome final. He had three breaks of serve in the first set, wrapping it up in 34 minutes, then opened a 3-0 lead in the second and cruised to the finish.

The top-seeded Spanish superstar has already claimed clay titles at Monte Carlo and Barcelona -- in addition to hardcourt wins at the Australian Open and Indian Wells -- in preparation for a run at a fifth straight French Open crown. The year's second Grand Slam gets under way at Roland Garros on May 24.

Nadal captured this French Open tuneup three years in a row from 2005-07 but was a second-round loser last year to fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero. That setback is the last time Nadal was beaten on his beloved clay.

Djokovic took advantage last year and beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the final.

To reach his second straight Rome final and third Masters title match in the last three events, Djokovic took advantage of an hour-long rain delay to stage a rally.

Federer failed to take advantage of five break point chances in the first set before finally converting the sixth, which gave him a 5-4 lead. He held serve to take the set, then broke serve in the first game of the second set and had another break point chance for a 3-0 lead.

Djokovic managed to save that point and went on to take the game to trail 2-1 before rain halted play.

After the delay, Federer held serve and had another chance to break for a 4-1 edge. Djokovic, though, again battled back and won the next five games to square the match at a set apiece.

Federer again gained the upper hand early in the third set with a break for a 3-1 lead, but Djokovic immediately broke back at love and rolled from there. He didn't drop another game and finished it on his second match point when Federer dumped a backhand into the net.

Djokovic will play in his third straight final, having lost to Andy Murray in Miami last month before dropping a three-set match to Nadal two weeks ago in Monte Carlo. He did win his other 2009 title match, beating David Ferrer in Dubai, and owns a career record of 12-8 in ATP finals.

Nadal, meanwhile, is 35-9 all-time in ATP finals with an astounding 24 of those title wins coming on clay.

Sunday will mark the 17th meeting between Nadal and Djokovic. The Spaniard has a dominant 12-4 record against the Serb, including 7-0 on clay, with a Davis Cup win this year in addition to the Monte Carlo victory two weeks ago.

Should Djokovic lose on Sunday, he would also relinquish his No. 3 ranking to Murray on May 11.

The 2009 Rome titlist will take home a first prize of $565,000.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

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