Bryans reach eighth Aussie doubles final

Tennis Betting Lines

01/26/2012 - Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The world No. 1 twin Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, were come-from-behind semifinal winners Thursday at the Australian Open.

The Bryans saved a match point and overcame a 2-5 deficit in a third-set tiebreak before sneaking past a seventh-seeded team of Swede Robert Lindstedt and Romanian Horia Tecau 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) at Melbourne Park.

"Played kind of our best tennis at the very end," Mike Bryan said. "Bob reflexed an unbelievable shot to get to 5-3. They're a big serving team. It's tough. I thought they played well. I think they're the most improved out on tour."

The 33-year-old Bryans own 11 Grand Slam doubles titles, including the last three Aussie Open crowns. They have won five of the last six Aussie titles and are also the reigning Wimbledon champs.

The Bryans are also an eight-time Grand Slam doubles runner-up.

Up next for the mighty Bryans will be an unseeded duo of Indian Leander Paes and Czech Radek Stepanek, who fought back to upend a second-seeded tandem of Belarusian Max Mirnyi and Canadian Daniel Nestor 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Paes was a runner-up to the Bryans, playing alongside fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi, in last year's Aussie doubles finale. The 38-year-old is a six-time Grand Slam doubles champion and three-time Aussie doubles runner-up. Stepanek is a former U.S. Open doubles runner-up (2002).

Saturday's winning team will split $475,000.

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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.