Brittany Burke

Federer again pushed hard, advances to Halle semifinals

Associated PressJun 22, 2018, 11:32 AM EDT

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HALLE, Germany (AP) Defending champion Roger Federer defeated Matthew Ebden 7-6 (2), 7-5 to reach the semifinals of the grass-court Gerry Weber Open on Friday.

Federer was made to work hard by Ebden, who saved five of the eight break points he faced and was leading 5-3 in the second set.

Federer, who saved two match points against Benoit Paire in the second round the day before, recovered to go 6-5 up and then broke Ebden to take his first match point for a meeting with American qualifier Denis Kudla.

Kudla earlier defeated Japan’s Yuichi Sugita 6-2, 7-5 to book his semifinal place.

Federer, who won his 18th grass-court title in Stuttgart on Sunday, is just three match wins away from matching Jimmy Connors’ all-time record of 174 victories on grass.

Federer extended his grass-court winning streak to 19 including the Stuttgart title and last year’s titles in Halle and Wimbledon. He is bidding for a record-extending 10th trophy in Halle.

Golden Knights underdogs at Capitals on NHL odds for pivotal Game 4 matchup

OddsSharkJun 3, 2018, 9:34 PM EDT

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The Vegas Golden Knights are set as +110 road underdogs on the NHL odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com for Monday night as they look to tie up the best-of-seven Stanley Cup final in Game 4 of the series at Capital One Arena.

Vegas fell into a 2-1 series hole on Saturday night with a 3-1 loss at Washington as +116 underdogs, marking their second straight defeat after they also lost 3-2 at home to the Capitals in Game 2 of the set last Wednesday night as -138 betting favorites.

The Golden Knights had staked themselves to a 1-0 lead in the Stanley Cup final with a 6-4 win in Game 1 back on May 28 as -152 favorites on the NHL odds.

Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov carried the Capitals to a 2-0 lead with goals in the second period of Game 3 on Saturday night. Tomas Nosek pulled the Golden Knights to within one goal early in the third period, but Devante Smith-Pelly had the insurance marker for Washington with just over six minutes left in the game.

Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby stopped 21 of 22 Vegas shots in Saturday night’s victory. Vegas counterpart Marc-Andre Fleury gave up three goals on 26 shots in the contest; Fleury has allowed 10 goals over the first three games of the Stanley Cup final after surrendering just 10 goals over five games in the Western Conference final.

Saturday’s win shifted the Capitals from underdogs to favorites on the updated odds to win the Stanley Cup, with Washington now sitting as -240 chalk on that futures board. The Golden Knights slipped to +200 underdogs to win the Stanley Cup in their inaugural season.

Vegas has now suffered consecutive losses for the first time since early April, having dropped back to back games to the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames on April 5 and April 7. Saturday also marked the fifth UNDER result for totals bettors in the Golden Knights’ last seven outings, according to the OddsShark NHL Database.

The Capitals are 4-1 in their past five games dating back to the Eastern Conference final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, where they picked up victories in Game 6 and Game 7. The UNDER is 5-1 for totals bettors in Washington’s last six games.

Washington is also 4-2 in its last six games on home ice, with the OVER only paying off once in that stretch for totals bettors at the sportsbooks.

Puck drop for Game 4 on Monday night is set for 8:00pm ET. The two teams will then get two days off before Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Thursday night. Game 6, if necessary, would be played back in Washington on Sunday night, with a deciding Game 7 on the schedule for next Wednesday in Las Vegas.

For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.

After Giro win, Froome quickly changes focus to Tour

Associated PressMay 28, 2018, 4:35 PM EDT

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ROME (AP) Now that Chris Froome has wrapped up the Giro d’Italia title, his focus will quickly switch to matching the record with a fifth Tour de France title – unless a doping case gets in the way.

Froome is racing under the cloud of a potential ban after a urine sample he provided at the Spanish Vuelta in September showed a concentration of the asthma drug salbutamol that was twice the permitted level.

Froome maintains he has long struggled with asthma.

“I know I’ve done nothing wrong,” he said after lifting the Giro trophy Sunday .

“Obviously the next challenge for me has got to be the Tour de France,” Froome added. “I’m already thinking about it.”

Still, it remains unclear when the International Cycling Union will rule on the case, which could result in a lengthy ban.

“We’ve been focused on the race here and we’ll look at that in the weeks to come,” Team Sky director Dave Brailsford told The Associated Press.

No rider has achieved the Giro-Tour double since Marco Pantani in 1998.

“I’ve got to celebrate what an amazing victory this was but I’m definitely going to keep things tidy tonight thinking about recovering from this,” Froome said. “I really think it’s possible.”

There are six weeks between the Giro and Tour, so Froome will need to carefully calibrate the balance between rest, recovery and training.

“There’s a difference between physical and mental rest and switching off completely,” Brailsford said. “The trick here is to stay in the same gear but obviously you got to recover and then get fresh enough to be able to go again. Switching off totally and relaxing totally is not the way to do it.”

With one more Tour title, Froome will match the record held by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.

Lance Armstrong had won seven Tour titles but was stripped of them all for doping.

With the Tour starting a week later than usual because of the soccer World Cup in Russia, Froome has the luxury of extra time to prepare.

Sky sporting director Nicolas Portal said Froome would likely follow the Giro with one week of rest, then a training camp at altitude followed by high-intensity training.

The Tour runs July 7-29 and Froome plans to inspect some of the course before it starts.

“We’ve got a few more (stages) to do, then obviously we want to work a little bit on the team time trial and we’re probably going to go through the cobbles again,” Brailsford said. “There’s a bit of work to be done.”

Besides the usual mountain stages, this year’s Tour features a team time trial in Stage 3, a 35-kilometer (22-mile) route starting and ending in Cholet in western France.

Stage 9 could also be tricky, with 15 treacherous cobblestone sections: the highest number since the 1980 Tour, with nearly 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) altogether.

“He’s pretty confident about it, actually,” Brailsford said. “He’s happy on the dirt, he’s happy on a mountain bike and I think he’ll be happy on the cobbles.”