Almagro, Nalbandian reach quarters in Brazil

Tennis Betting Lines

02/16/2012 - Sao Paulo, Brazil (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top seed and defending champion Nicolas Almagro secured a berth in the quarterfinals at the $475,300 Brasil Open.

Almagro fought his way past Romanian Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 at this clay-court event. The Spanish Almagro, who also won this event in 2008, captured his second Brasil Open title last year by besting Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the final in Costa do Sauipe.

Up next for the world No. 11 Almagro will be fifth-seeded Argentine Carlos Berlocq, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 come-from-behind winner against Italian Potito Starace on Thursday.

Second-seeded Gilles Simon would not enjoy such a fortuitous fate. The Frenchman was bested by Argentine former world No. 3 David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-2. Nalbandian faced five break points but saved each of them, while converting four of seven opportunities offered by Simon.

Third-seeded Fernando Verdasco fought off wild card and fellow Spaniard Javier Marti 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 7-5. The left-handed Verdasco will face another compatriot on Friday, Albert Ramos.

An eighth-seeded Ramos needed a pair of tiebreaks to get past Russian qualifier Igor Andreev 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), while Italian Filippo Volandri edged out Spanish qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Argentine Leonardo Mayer rounded out Thursday's action, defeating Jeremy Chardy 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

The 2012 Brasil Open champion will collect $85,800.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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