THIEM FOR A BREAK, DOM
A SHATTERED Dominic Thiem was left standing as a symbol of tennis’s upsidedown world after a French Open defeat of epic proportions.
By the end of a five-hour and eight-minute struggle against Diego Schwartzman, the effort of capturing his US Open title last month had well and truly overwhelmed him. All he could offer was a miscued dropshot to hand his opponent victory.
Paris was where he was meant to excel, but instead he is left with New York after being beaten in the quarter-finals by the 5ft 7in Argentine. Schwartzman won 7-6, 5-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 in the sixth longest match in tournament history.
It meant a late night was in store for whoever is to play Schwartzman on Friday, either Rafael Nadal or the 19-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner.
With neither player gaining many free points in the heavy conditions, every point felt like a battle, and the Austrian had nothing left to give by the end.
It would have been over sooner had Schwartzman taken his chances. ‘In the third I was going out of my mind,’ he admitted. ‘I was so nervous because I saw this as a chance today and I wasn’t taking it.’ Schwartzman’s compatriot Nadia Podoroska became the first female qualifier to make the French Open semifinals since the game went ‘open’ in 1968.
At a world ranking of 131, the 23- year- old from Rosario is somewhat lesser known than the city’s most famous sporting offspring — Lionel Messi.
Podoroska’s parents are of Ukrainian heritage and she stunned that country’s best player, and the No 3 seed, Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4. She now meets
Iga Swiatek, who beat Martina Trevisan in straight sets. FRENCH prosecutors have launched a match-fixing investigation into the low-profile first-round women’s doubles match that saw Romanians Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig defeat Russian Yana Sizikova and American Madison Brengle 7-6, 6-4. Several bookmakers around Europe reported abnormally large sums being bet on the contest. The Tennis Integrity Unit declined to comment on the allegations.