Kanepi upends Pennetta to claim Palermo title

Tennis Betting Lines

07/18/2010 - Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Estonia's Kaia Kanepi knocked off top-seeded Flavia Pennetta to capture the Palermo International title.

Kanepi, seeded fifth this week, notched a 6-4, 6-3 victory for her first career title. Her best previous results this year were a trio of quarterfinal appearances, including one at Wimbledon.

Twice previously Kanepi had finished as a runner-up. She lost to Kim Clijsters in the 2006 Hasselt title match and fell to Caroline Wozniacki in the 2008 Japan Open final.

Pennetta, meanwhile, was gunning for her second straight Palermo crown and her 10th career WTA title. She fell to 9-11 all-time in finals, including 1-2 this year. After a loss to Yanina Wickmayer in the Auckland title match to start 2010, she beat Carla Suarez Navarro for the Marbella title in April.

Kanepi broke Pennetta's serve six times during the match, once to win the opening set and one last time for a 4-2 lead in the second set. After both players held their next service games, Kanepi held at love to complete her maiden triumph.

The victory allowed Kanepi to square the all-time series at 3-3. She also won the previous matchup, two years ago at the Beijing Olympics.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.