Croatia, Japan split opening Davis Cup singles

Tennis Betting Lines

02/10/2012 - Hyogo, Japan (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Croatia and Japan split the opening singles matches in their first-round Davis Cup tie on Friday.

Japan picked up the first point of the day when Go Saeda made a stunning rally for a 6-7 (3-7), 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ivan Dodig, but Ivo Karlovic quickly halted the host nation's momentum with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Kei Nishikori.

The best-of-five will continue on Saturday with the doubles match that is scheduled to feature the Japanese tandem of Tatsuma Ito and Yuichi Sugita versus a Croatian duo of Karlovic and Lovro Zovko, while Sunday's reverse singles currently call for Nishikori to battle Dodig and Karlovic to take on Soeda.

Dodig appeared to have control of the opening match, as he raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker and picked up a late break of serve in the second set.

Soeda, though, broke Dodig in the 10th game to win the third set and carried the momentum into the fourth by winning the first three games. After Dodig broke back in the fifth game, Soeda broke serve again for 4-2 and went on to square the match.

Each player broke serve once midway through the fifth set, which went to 5-5 before Soeda set up another break point with a backhand. Dodig then sent a forehand long and Soeda cemented the incredible comeback with a hold at love in the final game of the more than four-hour match.

"I think it was my best win ever," said Soeda, who also beat Dodig last month in the second round of the Chennai Open en route to a semifinal appearance.

Karlovic, much like Dodig, also won the first two sets in the second match of the day, but he didn't allow Nishikori a chance to get close. He closed out the third by winning the final four games with a pair of breaks.

"I tried to mix a lot and not rally a lot with him," said Karlovic, who used his booming serve to his advantage. "I try to win as quickly as I can on every point and I was trying to be as aggressive as I could."

The 6-foot-10 Karlovic banged out 18 aces and didn't face a break point during the match. Nishikori won a mere 12 points on Karlovic's serve.

Team Croatia is captained by Zeljko Krajan, while Japan is led by Eiji Takeuchi. This marks the first-ever meeting between the two nations.

Croatia captured its lone Davis Cup title in 2005, while Japan has only ever reached one final, and that resulted in a loss against the 32-time champion United States way back in 1921.

The Croatia-Japan winner will meet the Argentina-Germany victor in the quarterfinals in April.

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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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