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05/24/2010 - Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roger Federer began defense of his French Open title with a straight-set win on the second day of play at Roland Garros. Third-seeded Novak Djokovic and No. 4 seed Andy Murray also moved on in Paris.
The world No. 1 Federer cruised to a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 first-round victory over Australia's Peter Luczak, who's now 0-4 at the French Open.
Federer tallied a mere 11 unforced errors and faced only one break point in a routine bout.
"It's always important coming back as defending champion, trying to get off to a good start," Federer said. "It was like a perfect match to get off the French Open campaign."
The Swiss superstar finally won at Roland Garros last spring after three straight losses in the final and completed the career Grand Slam.
The 28-year-old Federer is gunning for a 17th career Grand Slam title and second of 2010. He won the Australian Open back in January.
Federer, who beat Swede Robin Soderling in last year's Roland Garros finale, will encounter Colombian Alejandro Falla in the round of 64.
The former Australian Open champion Djokovic needed four sets to win his first-rounder, which he did against Russia's Evgeny Korolev, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Djokovic is a two-time French Open semifinalist who was upset in the third round here a year ago.
Meanwhile, the Aussie Open runner-up Murray fought back from two sets down to get past French crowd favorite Richard Gasquet 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. Gasquet, who titled in Nice this past weekend, required medical attention on more than one occasion during his Day-2 setback.
Murray prevailed in 4 hours, 4 minutes, with the help of 17 aces and seven breaks, compared to only three breaks for the French loser.
Twelfth-seeded Chilean slugger Fernando Gonzalez got past Brazil's Thiago Alves in four sets, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, while 13th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils held off German lucky-loser Dieter Kindlmann 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 and 14th-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic topped Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 6-3."Gonzo" was a semifinalist here last year, which marked his best-ever French showing.
Some other seeded winners on Monday were No. 15 Czech Tomas Berdych, No. 17 American John Isner, No. 20 Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. No. 24 Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci and No. 25 Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. Berdych topped Chilean qualifier Jorge Aguilar 7-6 (9-7), 6-1, 6-1; Isner handled Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-3, 6-2; Wawrinka waltzed past Czech Jan Hajek 6-1, 6-3, 6-3; Bellucci beat France's Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-2, 6-2; and the former Aussie Open runner- up Baghdatis drilled American Jesse Witten 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
Mild Day-2 upsets came when Serbian Viktor Troicki dismissed 21st-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 and German Julian Reister erased 27th- seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
Also on Monday, Slovakian Lukas Lacko outlasted American qualifier Michael Yani 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (5-7), 12-10, which ties the record for the most games played in a match (71) at Roland Garros since tiebreaks were introduced in 1973.
The marathon match was suspended because of darkness here on Sunday, with the score tied at 8-8 in the fifth set.
<< Collins returns home to lead Sixers
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Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NHL Entry Draft, set to take place June
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<< Czech friendly is vital for a number of USA hopefuls
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tuesday's friendly between the United States
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It will give USA head coach
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New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zenyatta and Lookin At Lucky each remain in
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In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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