SPORTSThursday, June 8, 201722

Bourgoin-Jallieu

Australia’s Richie Porte made a Tour de France statement as

he romped to victory in yesterday’s 23.5km time-trial at the Criterium du Dauphine, as overall favourite Chris Froome struggled home in eighth.

BMC’s Porte put in a stunning performance to beat four-time world time-trial champion Tony Martin of Germany into second and leave fellow overall contenders trailing in his wake.

“I didn’t expect to either win the stage or take that much time,” Porte said after the race. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done a good time trial, so to do what I did today makes me really happy.

“I think I can go to the Tour de France in fantastic form and with a great team behind me.”

Belgian Thomas De Gendt of

Lotto held on to the overall leader’s yellow jersey after the fourth stage, 27sec ahead of Porte and 51sec ahead of third placed Alejandro Valverde, who was also third on the stage.

Spain’s Alberto Contador was seventh, two seconds ahead of Froome, and moved up to fifth overall at 1min 02sec with the Briton sixth at 1:04.

Reigning champion Froome had said on Tuesday that the time-trial would be “an important milestone” in the eight-stage race, which is seen as a form indicator for July’s Tour de France. “We’ve got a very similar kind of prologue in Dusseldorf, and a similar time-trial in Marseille at the end of the Tour. It’s good practice and a good hit out ahead of that,” Froome said. (AFP)

Porte storms to time-trial win

Source: FIA

June 11

70

kph Gear

Race 7 out of 20

Canadian Grand Prix

70 laps of 4.361 km = 305.270 km Lap record: 1 min 13.622 sec

Rubens Barrichello (2004)

Driver standings

Teams

Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes104

75Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

67

129

Ferrari 196

53

Red Bull

Force India

179Mercedes

97

Start/Finish85

270 145180

307

135

300

80

339

4

4

2

4

3

8

8

8

7

Montreal - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

Claro

Criterium du Dauphine

Results and standings after the fourth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine, a 23.5km time-trial around Bourgoin-JallieuStage 4.1. Richie Porte (AUS/BMC) 23.5km in 28min 07sec2. Tony Martin (GER/KAT) at 12sec3. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 244. Stef Clement (NED/LNL) 285. Chad Haga (USA/SUN) 326. Jasha Sutterlin (GER/MOV) 327. Alberto Contador (ESP/TRE) 358. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) 379. Thomas De Gendt (BEL/LOT) 4210. Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) 45

Overall1. Thomas De Gendt (BEL/LOT) 13hrs 05min 53sec2. Richie Porte (AUS/BMC) at 27sec3. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 514. Stef Clement (NED/LNL) 555. Alberto Contador (ESP/TRE) 1:026. Chris Froome (GBR/SKY) 1:047. Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) 1:128. Jesus Herrada (ESP/MOV) 1:159. Sam Oomen (NED/SUN) 1:1710. Diego Ulissi (ITA/EAU) 1:22

DT News NetworkManama

HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Representative of His

Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, President of Bahrain Olympic Committee, praised the prominent role played by the Ministry of Information Affairs represented by Bahrain TV’s Sports Channel through its interaction with various aspects of the 3rd Nasser bin Hamad Ramadan Sports Games “Nasser 10” which concluded tonght.

Bahrain TV’s Sports Channel has been a key partner in the success achieved by the tournament over the past years and praised the efforts exerted by Minister of Information Affairs Ali bin Mohammed Al Rumaihi, in supporting the tournament.

Meanwhile, Ali Al-Majed, Director of the Tournament stressed that the final football match will be contested between Batelco Gunners United and Al Fakhar starting 9pm at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town.

“The Nasser 10 Organising Committee intends to turn the final

match into a distinguished festival from all organisational aspects, with great surprises in line with the directives of Shaikh Nasser for the allocation of a large number of awards to the audience attending the final match,” Al-Majed stated.

A total of five cars will be presented to the attending audience which are all provided by Ebrahim Khalil Kanoo (Toyota) and Majestic Cars and all tickets distributed to the audience in the various sports games will enter the Tournament’s final draw.

The draw for the final five cars will take place after the crowning ceremony and noting the importance of the presence of the car winners in the stadium. In the absence of a winner, another ticket will be drawn.

Meanwhile, the lucky winner for the fifth car was Hamad Duaij, who said he has attended the matches on a regular basis to support his team and thanked Shaikh Nasser for his initiative to encourage spectators to attend the matches.

Tonight shows in gymnastics and self-defence sports will be showcased in Seef Mall, starting from 9pm.

Hinnen defeats Joan Sala DT News NetworkManama

Floris Jan Hinnen took a further step towards qualifying for the

main competition of the Late Ahmed Al Mahoozi Cup - Master Singles after coming from a set down to defeat Joan Sala 3-6, 6-2, 11-9 at the Bahrain Tennis Club Ramadan Tournament at its premises in Juffair.

In other qualifiers, Bas Loohuis was a 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 winner against Jic Bolhol and Rahul Jaideep received a walkover win from Mohammed Abdul A’al.

In The Late Majid Al Zayani Cup - Super Doubles, Group 1 action saw Ali Al Asfoor and Roy Boutagy beat Emad Ali and Yousef Fakhro 6-4, 6-4 and Kadri and Ahmed Rizk get the better of Ahmed Dhaif and BassimSarwani 6-4, 6-3.

While in Group 2, there were wins for Nalan Chokappa and Sundara Ram 6-2, 4-6, 10-8 against Khalid Nass and Yousef Al Goud and for Ashraf Atabani and Ahmed Jaffar in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 against Karim Hajjar and Khalid Janahi.

This competition comprises two

groups of round-robin matches with the top two qualifying for the semi-finals next Sunday and the final set for June 13.

In The Late Yousif Khalil Al Moayyed Cup - Doubles, the players in three groups played round-robin group matches with eight players advancing to the quarter finals (being played last night) and comprising the top two from the three groups and the best third placed pairs in Group 1 and 2, the semi-finals are set for Saturday.

Shaikh Nasser praises role of Bahrain TV

Floris Jan Hinnen

Hamad Duaij receiving his Car

Paris

Simona Halep produced an incredible escape act to reach the French Open

semi-finals yesterday, while Karolina Pliskova ended the run of the lone remaining home hope Caroline Garcia.

Romanian third seed Halep saved a match point as she trailed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 5-1 before launching a s e n s a t i o n a l comeback to

stun the

Ukrainian in three sets.Fifth seed Svitolina twice served for

the match at 5-2 and 5-4 in the second set and then had match point at 6/5 in the tie-break.

But she failed to put away Halep and the 2014 Roland Garros runner-up powered through the decider in just 20 minutes to complete a remarkable 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-0 victory.

“I don’t know how I came back. It was really tough. She was playing hard and strong. I was a little bit lucky, I can say,” said Halep, who grabbed the second set on a fortuitous net cord winner.

“I think I was strong mentally. I didn’t give up. That’s maybe why I won this

match.”Svitolina, 22, had looked well-

set to become the first Ukrainian woman

to make a Grand Slam semi-final.

She allowed Halep just four winners in the first set

and coasted to within sight of

the last four, but the Romanian ran

away with 12 of the last 13 games to avenge

her loss in the Rome final.“I let her back into the game a little

bit,” admitted Svitolina, who will rise to a career-high of fifth next week despite the defeat.

“I don’t really need to talk about this match as a bad experience.

“I’m sad today but tomorrow is another day and life continues, there’s nothing I can do.”

Svitolina, who had been two points from defeat in the fourth round against Petra Martic, finished the quarter-final with 45 unforced errors.

Halep will meet second seed Pliskova for a place in Saturday’s final after the second defeated Garcia 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.

Pliskova, 25, will replace Angelique Kerber as the new world number one if she makes the final, while Halep would rise to the top of the rankings should she claim the title in Paris.

The Czech edged a marathon 77-minute first set against 28th seed Garcia in a tie-break, having failed to convert an earlier set point at 5-3.

The 25-year-old then broke the Frenchwoman as she served to stay in the match to clinch just her second appearance in the last four at a Grand Slam.

“It was very tough. She played very well, we were both serving well. She played a great tournament, even today, it was 50-50, it came down to about two points I’m really glad I made it,” said Pliskova.

Last year’s US Open finalist entered Roland Garros with just two wins in five previous visits.

“I am very happy. Before the tournament I wasn’t sure if I could play good tennis on clay.” (AFP)

Thursday, June 8, 2017 23SPORTS

Paris

Dominic Thiem demolished defending champion Novak

Djokovic in a stunning French Open upset y e s t e r d a y ,

setting up a semi- f ina l duel against nine-t ime champion R a f a e l Nadal.

Austrian sixth seed Thiem sent the world

number two crashing to

h i s

earliest loss in Paris in seven years with a memorable 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-0 triumph.

It also piled the pressure back onto the 12-time Grand Slam winner to prove that he is still a contender at the majors following a second-round exit at the Australian Open in January.

“All the top players go through this. I will get through it and learn the lessons and figure out how to get out of it,” said 30-year-old Djokovic.

“It’s a big challenge but I am up for it.”

The defeat was Djokovic’s first straight-sets loss at a major in four years and comes just 12 months after he completed the career Grand Slam in Paris.

He then also held all four majors.Wednesday saw him suffer a first

6-0 ‘bagel’ at a Slam since the 2005

US Open while the defeat will also see him slip out of the world’s top two for the first time in six years.

“It’s a dream to beat Novak for the first time and reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros again,” said Thiem, who was beaten by Djokovic in straight sets in the semi-finals in Paris in 2016.

It was Thiem’s first win over the Serb in six meetings.

“It was tricky today, it was windy and cold. It was important to move well and hit clean.”

Thiem trails Nadal 4-2 in career meetings but remains the only man to beat the Spaniard on clay this year after winning in the Rome quarter-finals.

“It’s always difficult the deeper you go in the draw -- it won’t be any easier on Friday.”

Djokovic, who teamed up

with Andre Agassi ahead of the tournament, squandered two set points in the 10th game of the opener on Wednesday and things got steadily worse.

Thiem pounced on his lifeline, taking the set after 73 minutes when the Serb dumped a backhand in the net.

By that stage, Nadal was already back in the locker room, safely into the semi-finals after his opponent Pablo Carreno Busta had retired with injury over on Philippe Chatrier.

Djokovic, who had needed five sets to beat Diego Schwartzman in the third round, was 3-0 down in the second set with Thiem’s unerring accuracy finding the angles. (AFP)

Men

Quarter-finals

Andy Murray (GBR x1) bt Kei Nishikori (JPN x8) 2-6,

6-1, 7-6 (7/0), 6-1

Stan Wawrinka (SUI x3) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x7) 6-3, 6-3, 6-1

Rafael Nadal (ESP x4) bt Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP x20) 6-2, 2-0

retired

Dominic Thiem (AUT x6) bt Novak Djokovic (SRB x2) 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-0

Women

Quarter-finals

Simona Halep (ROM x3) bt Elina Svitolina (UKR x5) 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-0

Karolina Pliskova (CZE x2) bt Caroline Garcia (FRA x28) 7-6 (7/3), 6-4

French Open results

Simona Halep to face Pliskova in semi-finals

Thiem stuns Djokovic

Novak Djokovic Dominic Thiem

Simona Halep Karolina Pliskova