Robredo wins Bastad opener

Tennis Betting Lines

07/13/2010 - Bastad, Sweden (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time champion Tommy Robredo highlighted Tuesday's first-round winners at the Swedish Open.

The fifth-seeded Robredo topped Poland's Michal Przysiezny 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 on the red clay at Bastad Tennis Stadium.

The former top-10 player Robredo captured this event in 2006 and 2008.

Day-2 upsets came when Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas cut down sixth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3) and Croatian qualifier Franco Skugor surprised seventh-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (9-7).

Other opening-round wins came for Swedish qualifier Ervin Eleskovic, Finn Jarkko Nieminen, Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev, France's Stephane Robert and Italian Andreas Seppi.

This week's top seed in Swedish star and reigning Bastad champion Robin Soderling. The reigning two-time French Open runner-up will meet wild card and fellow Swede Andreas Vinciguerra in the second round on Wednesday after enjoying a first-round bye this week. Vinciguerra reached back-to-back Bastad finals in 1999 and 2000.

Soderling beat Argentine Juan Monaco in last year's finale here.

In addition to Soderling and Robredo, another former Bastad champion in this week's field is 2007 winner David Ferrer of Spain. Ferrer will face Italian Fabio Fognini in a second-rounder on Wednesday.

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Marlins could start season without No. 2 starter Johnson

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Foorida Marlins are preparing for the likelihood that right-hander
Josh Johnson won't be ready when the season starts April 2.

Grapefruit League action starts Wednesday, but Johnson, penciled in as the No. 2 starter, hasn't even thrown off a mound at full speed since September. He's experienced some soreness in his right forearm.

MySportsbook.com have the Marlins listed with baseball betting lines at +800 to win the NL East this season .

''You guys know the math. If he's not on the hill then he becomes an opening day roster issue,'' manager Fredi Gonzalez said Saturday. ''We're borderline now.''

Johnson, who finished 12-7 with a 3.10 ERA in 2007, was supposed to throw on flat ground Saturday. That was canceled when he woke up with pain.

He played catch on Wednesday with no pain but felt discomfort in a throwing session on Thursday. He's expected to try again Sunday.

''Like we always said from the very beginning, we're going to take it easy on him,'' Gonzalez said. ''He didn't feel right, so we shut him down. We're going to take it back to step one and see where we're at.''

Among the candidates to take Johnson's spot in the rotation are left-hander Chris George and right-handers Yusmeiro Petit and Jose Garcia.

Right-hander Sergio Mitre, who missed most of last season with arm and shoulder problems, also is behind.

With Johnson's status doubtful, Gonzalez said right-hander Ricky Nolasco will stay in the rotation and no longer will be considered a candidate for closer.

Additional basbeall odds can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

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