Tennis Betting News at Linesmaker

Rafael Nadal Ousted From Gerry Weber Open

HALLE, Ger­many (TENNIS/Newsfeed) — Rafael Nadal lost in the quar­ter­fi­nals of the Gerry Weber Open on Fri­day, beaten by Philipp Kohlschreiber 6–3, 6–4 in the Spaniard’s first tour­na­ment since win­ning a record sev­enth French Open. Roger Fed­erer, a five-time win­ner of this grass-court Wim­ble­don tuneup, was taken to three sets but defeated Canada’s Milos Raonic 6–7 (4), 6–4, 7–6 (3). Kohlschreiber, who is seeded eighth, won this tour­na­ment last year. The 34th-ranked Ger­man ended Nadal’s 13-match win­ning streak. “It’s not the time to look for... 

Serena Williams Wins, Venus Bows Out at Madrid

MADRID (WTA/Newsfeed) — Ser­ena Williams beat Elena Ves­nina 6–3, 6–1 to reach the Madrid Open’s sec­ond round, while sis­ter Venus lost 6–4, 6–1 to Angelique Ker­ber on Monday. The ninth-seeded Williams had 13 aces and 40 win­ners against Ves­nina, who was strug­gling with her game on the slip­pery blue clay court. The Russ­ian lost her bal­ance in the sixth game and set up a break point for Williams, who pulled ahead to lead 4–2. Williams’ ninth ace of the match pro­vided a set point for the ninth-ranked Amer­i­can to take the first set and wrap up the match against... 

Azarenka, Sharapova Advance to 2nd Round in Madrid

MADRID (WTA/Newsfeed) –Top-ranked Vic­to­ria Azarenka and second-seeded Maria Shara­pova advanced to the sec­ond round of the Madrid Open with straight-set wins Sun­day on the event’s new blue-clay court. Azarenka beat Svet­lana Kuznetsova of Rus­sia 7–6 (5), 6–4 in a tough open­ing match. The Aus­tralian Open cham­pion and Kuznetsova traded breaks in the first set. Just when it looked as if the sec­ond set was going to end in another tiebreaker, Azarenka broke again to close out the match. “It was a really close match, so I was just happy that I won because they were dif­fi­cult... 

Andujar, Lindstedt/Tecau Stop Traffic in Belgrade

BELGRADE (ATP/Newsfeed) — Top seeds Pablo Andu­jar, Robert Lind­st­edt & Horia Tecau joined Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic and tour­na­ment direc­tor Goran Djokovic for a game of mini-tennis Tues­day on the newly opened Ada bridge in Belgrade. “This was a very nice expe­ri­ence,” said Andu­jar, who is mak­ing his Ser­bian Open debut this week. “I never played on a bridge before. It is very high and nice to look at. We had a great time and a lot of fun today.” The play­ers met the bridge’s con­struc­tion crew, before bring­ing traf­fic tem­porar­ily to a halt for... 

Sharapova Beats Azarenka in Porsche Final

STUTTGART (WTA/Newsfeed) — Second-ranked Maria Shara­pova cruised past top-ranked Vic­to­ria Azarenka 6–1, 6–4 on Sun­day to win the Porsche Grand Prix for her first title of the year. Shara­pova lost the finals of the Aus­tralian Open and Indian Wells this year to Azarenka, and the Russ­ian had never beaten her rival from Belarus in four pre­vi­ous encoun­ters in a final. “I am really pleased to win such a tough tour­na­ment, against such tough oppo­nents,” said Shara­pova, before col­lect­ing the white sports car donated by the spon­sor. “Vic­to­ria could not... 

Nadal Beats Ferrer for 7th Barcelona Open Win

BARCELONA (ATP/Newsfeed) — Rafael Nadal became the first player in the Open Era to win two tour­na­ments seven times after beat­ing David Fer­rer 7–6 (1), 7–5 in Sunday’s Barcelona Open final. The second-ranked Nadal’s 21st straight vic­tory on clay fol­lowed up his eighth straight win in Monte Carlo, as Nadal won the 10th all-Spanish ATP final for a 48th career win. The sixth-ranked Fer­rer lost his fourth Barcelona Open final to Nadal, who saved 12 of 15 break points for a 34th straight vic­tory at Barcelona. Nadal skipped toward the net in cel­e­bra­tion after hit­ting... 

Nadal Tops Ferrer for 7th Barcelona Title

BARCELONA (ATP/Newsfeed) — Rafael Nadal became the first player in the Open Era to win two tour­na­ments seven times after beat­ing David Fer­rer 7–6 (1), 7–5 in Sunday’s Barcelona Open final. The second-ranked Nadal’s 21st straight vic­tory on clay fol­lowed up his eighth straight win in Monte Carlo, as Nadal won the 10th all-Spanish ATP final for a 48th career win. The sixth-ranked Fer­rer lost his fourth Barcelona Open final to Nadal, who saved 12 of 15 break points for a 34th straight vic­tory at Barcelona. Nadal skipped toward the net in cel­e­bra­tion after hit­ting... 

Nadal, Ferrer Meet Again in Barcelona

Updated Apr 28, 2012 12:53 PM ET BARCELONA, Spain Six-time cham­pion Rafael Nadal defeated Fer­nando Ver­dasco 6–0, 6–4 Sat­ur­day to ease into the Barcelona Open final, where he will face fel­low Spaniard David Fer­rer for a fourth time. Nadal dom­i­nated from the start, win­ning 21 of 27 points to break Verdasco’s first three ser­vice games and set him on his way to his 33rd straight win at the competition. In the other semi­fi­nal, Fer­rer held off Milos Raonic’s pow­er­ful serve for a 7–6 (2), 7–6 (5) vic­tory to give him a shot at his fourth title of the year. “Rafa... 

Nadal, Raonic Advance in Barcelona

Rafael Nadal dis­patched Janko Tip­sare­vic 6–2, 6–2 Fri­day to advance to the Barcelona Open semi­fi­nals, while Milos Raonic served 14 aces and upset second-seeded Andy Mur­ray 6–4, 7–6 (3). The top-seeded Nadal moved his Ser­bian oppo­nent around the red-clay court with his pow­er­ful forehand. The second-ranked Spaniard broke Tip­sare­vic in his first ser­vice game to set the tone for his 32nd con­sec­u­tive win at the tour­na­ment. Tip­sare­vic earned three break points in the last game of the first set, but Nadal recov­ered to win five straight points. Nadal... 

Nadal, Murray Reach Barcelona Quarters

Updated Apr 26, 2012 7:06 PM ET BARCELONA, Spain Rafael Nadal and Andy Mur­ray cruised into the Barcelona Open quar­ter­fi­nals with straight-set vic­to­ries on Thursday. Nadal broke Robert Farah of Colom­bia in the first game on his way to a 6–2, 6–3 vic­tory for his 31st straight win at the tour­na­ment. Nadal set up a quar­ter­fi­nal match with fifth-seeded Janko Tip­sare­vic after the Ser­bian beat Fred­erico Gil 6–2, 6–2. “It may sound stu­pid but against play­ers like him you have to go for vic­tory, if you look for a fight you’ve already lost,” Tip­sare­vic...