Tennis

Serena Williams getting out of jail against Victoria Azarenka yesterday wasn’t an ideal result, but the fluctuating fortunes of the match meant it wasn’t a disaster either.

Serena has been heavily backed to win the tournament and couple with the key chances in the Men’s draw for the double. She was also backed from $1.30 into $1.20 to win yesterday’s match.

But Live betting helped square our ledger to some extent, with Azarenka getting into as short as $1.20 at one stage – and we took a $5000 bet at that quote.

Andy Murray is $1.18 to advance to the Final tonight, giving away 6 games at the line against Marin Cilic. Roger Federer is $1.16 to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday.

A Murray-Federer final will spark some real betting fireworks.

European and particularly the Brit punters are Murray-mad, whereas the rest of the world is in love with Federer, so we would expect money on both sides of the court should that likely scenario eventuate.

Federer is now a $1.90 chance to win his fourth Australian Open, with Murray $2.35 and double figures the two outsiders.

Also keep in mind that you can now multi Head-to-Head & Total Games O/U markets within the same match. 

Cricket

We see this fourth match in Perth as our chance to get something back from the punters, who have cashed up on the Aussies in the first three ODI games.

Australia is resting Shane Watson and Doug Bollinger and over on that Perth deck, we think it might suit the Pakistan bowlers.

They really haven’t been that far away in two of the games thus far, but just failed to convert into a win. At the $1.45, we are happy to take Australia on – again!

Golf

Phil Mickelson makes his return to the circuit this weekend and is marked at $7.25 to take the Farmers Insurance Open. The lefty is one of the few players you can rely on to perform fresh and punters have cottoned onto that this week, backing him in from $9.

The European events have been attracting more interest than the US in recent weeks though, perhaps because of the more friendly timeslot.

Last start winner Martin Kaymer heads betting at $12 with Henrik Stenson for the Qatar Masters this week, with Kaymer best backed.

The New Zealand Open provides punters with a trio of events to get their teeth into this weekend.

Soccer

Punters have got the A-League down to three teams, with Melbourne $2.30, Sydney $3.10 and debutants the Gold Coast $3.75. All others are $16 or better.

A big match therefore looms tomorrow evening, with Gold Coast $2.35 hosting the competition favourites, who are $2.95. The Draw is a $3.35 chance.

AFL

There’s not much doing in Flag betting at the moment, but punters are happy to keep chipping away at Gary Ablett to win the Brownlow. We took another $1000 Each Way at $7 this week and he’s now into a quote of $6.50.

Simon Black has also had some interest at the $21 Each Way quote.

NRL

Reports in the Sydney press this week of the Roosters being upbeat about a more positive season in 2010 prompted some good money to come for them to make the eight.

Punters took the $2.75 on the day of the report and consistent money has seen them trip up to $2.60 to turn around their woeful 2009 year and make a Finals appearance this time around.

Parramatta continue to be the team most want to be on, with another $2000 at the $5.50 to win the Premiership coming this week. 

Horse Racing

Australia’s first Group 1 race of the year, the Lightning Stakes, has attracted a field of 13 acceptors, with an international flavour, with the inclusion of US galloper Cannonball.

Three-year-olds are out to break a four year drought and they have a powerful contingent here, with eight runners. Guineas winners Starspangledbanner and Irish Lights will be among the favourites, along with Coolmore Stakes winner Headway.

Of the older horses, G1 winners Duporth and Nicconi will have their admirers, along with Queensland speedster Burdekin Blues, a Flemington straight track winner during the spring carnival.

The Flemington program also includes the G3 CS Hayes and G3 Vanity for the three-year-olds.

Sports Alive also has fixed odds markets available on the Australian Cup, Australian Guineas, Newmarket Handicap and Blue Diamond.

Twitter: @SportsAlive_com

If you’re on Twitter, simply follow @SportsAlive_com and be kept up to speed with all the latest updates.

Information such as when markets go live, injury news, market moves, previews of the upcoming weekend’s sport (and anything else the biggest name in sports betting, Gerard Daffy, feels like sharing) will be tweeted regularly.

We’ll also be offering bet bonuses exclusively to our ‘followers’.  As an example – we recently tweeted a remibursed player exotic bet bonus.  Did you take us up on it?  Get involved!  **Normal bonus credit conditions apply.

For those who have yet to get involved with Twitter; simply go to our page - which can be found by typing in www.twitter.com/SportsAlive_com  - and follow the prompts to create an account.