Stakhovsky comes back to take New Haven title

Tennis Betting Lines

08/28/2010 - New Haven, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sergiy Stakhovsky bested Denis Istomin in the finale of the $750,000 Pilot Pen Tennis event to capture his fourth career ATP Tour title.

Stakhovsky, seeded ninth, rebounded from a first-set loss to take a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 decision over the 15th-seeded Istomin, who was trying to become the first player from Uzbekistan to capture a Tour crown.

The Ukrainian took the final hardcourt U.S. Open tune-up in one hour, 42 minutes and was awarded $93,630.

Istomin, appearing in his first career final, cruised out of the gate by solving Stakhovsky's serve early on and never facing a break point in the swift, 32-minute opening set.

The rest of the match was all Stakhovsky, who converted on his first break chance to go up 2-0 in the second and quickly tied things at a set apiece.

Istomin was the first to blink in the final set, losing his third service game. Stakhovsky held at love on his next two serves at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale, then, at 40-30 leading 5-4, hit an overhead winner to come away victorious.

Stakhovsky also titled this year in Den Bosch and has never lost a final on Tour.

This was the first meeting between the two finalists.

The U.S. Open, tennis' fourth and final grand slam of the year, commences on Monday.

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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.