Strong Thiem steamrolls weary Zverev
Keys beats Putintseva to reach semi-finals
PARIS: Dominic Thiem reached his third successive French Open semi-final yesterday with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 demolition of a hobbled and exhausted Alexander Zverev, the German second seed.
Thiem, the Austrian seventh seed, goes on to face either with 2016 champion and 12-time major winner Novak Djokovic or Italy’s world No.72 Marco Cecchinato for a place in Sunday’s final.
In the women’s singles, American 13th seed Madison Keys proved too strong for Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva as she reached the semi-finals for the first time.
The 23-year-old, who lost to compatriot and good friend Sloane Stephens in last year’s US Open final, could next face a repeat of that match at Flushing Meadows after a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 victory over world No.98 Putintseva.
“I really just had to focus because Yulia was playing so well, I knew I just had to make a few more balls,” said Keys, who is yet to drop a set in the tournament.
Putintseva made the first significant move with a break in the seventh game, but failed to serve out the set as Keys found her range.
The Kazakh showed great resolve to force a tie-break, though, saving two set points on her own serve.
But the greater power of Keys paid
dividends in the tie-breaker, as the American finally took the opener on her fourth set point with her 18th winner.
Putintseva fought hard at the start of the second set, but Keys broke through to take a 4-3 lead with a rasping forehand return before confidently serving her way to the
semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Belgian police yesterday held 13 people in an investigation into match-fixing in tennis, prosecutors said, barely a month after a major independent report warned of a “tsunami” of corruption in the lower levels of the sport.
Officers swooped on 21 addresses in Belgium while simultaneous raids were launched on properties in the US, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Netherlands as part of an international probe into an Armenian-Belgian criminal network suspected of bribing players to throw games.
Belgian prosecutors said the matches involved were on the low-level Futures and Challenger circuits, away from the gaze of television coverage and where prize money is low enough that players are susceptible to backhanders.
“This judicial investigation showed that an Armenian-Belgian criminal organisation actively would have bribed professional tennis players from 2014 to the present day in order to obtain a pre-arranged match result with the aim of betting on these fixed matches based on insider information, thereby fraudulently boosting winnings,” the prosecutors said in a statement.
The suspects mostly fit the same profile, prosecutors said — no income, no job and facing financial problems.
They would be given money to bet on lower-division matches where prize money was around US$5,000 to $15,000.
MURRAY TARGETS WIMBLEDON
Andy Murray says he is “getting closer” to playing again following a frustratingly long injury lay-off and hopes to be fit enough to target a third Wimbledon title.
The former world No.1 has not played competitively since last year’s Wimbledon, undergoing hip surgery at the turn of the year.
With Wimbledon fast approaching, Murray, who has slipped to 47th in the world, said he had returned to training and playing the grass-court season remained his aim.
“It’s been very slow,” he said in a video on the Guardian newspaper’s website. “I’ve been out getting close to a year now, which is a lot longer than I think me and any of my team kind of expected at the beginning but I’m getting closer to playing again.
“I’ve started training a few days ago. I’m hoping to make my comeback during the grass-court season.”
Murray, who has won two Wimbledon titles, said he is hoping to play at the Grand Slam event, which starts on July 2.