Makarova to meet Wickmayer in Estoril final

Tennis Betting Lines

05/08/2009 - Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer were semifinal winners Friday at the Estoril Open and will meet for the title in Saturday's final.

The sixth-seeded Makarova was a 6-3, 6-1 winner over eighth-seeded German Anna-Lena Groenefeld, while Wickmayer was ahead 3-0 in the first set against Shahar Peer when the seventh-seeded Israeli decided she could not continue because of a foot injury.

Makarova will play in a WTA Tour final for the second straight week and for the second time in her career. She will also hope for a much better result, as Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 rout in last week's title match in Morocco.

Wickmayer will also make her second career appearance in a WTA Tour final and will try for her first title on Saturday. She was the runner-up to Kateryna Bondarenko last year in Birmingham.

Prior to this week's event, Wickmayer had a 2009 WTA Tour match record of just 1-4. She has already beaten three seeded players this week, having toppled No. 5 Petra Kvitova in the first round and No. 3 Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals before Friday's virtual walkover.

The 20-year-old Makarova and 19-year-old Wickmayer will meet for the first time in Saturday's final with a first prize of $37,000 at stake.

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Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).

Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.

A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.

Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.

"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.

De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.

The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.

The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.

De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.

Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.

But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.