04/06/2026

SPORTS THURSDAY | JUNE 4, 2026

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Staying focused A LEXANDER ZVEREV insisted he’s just focused on his upcoming semifinal rather than being the favourite Zverev ‘doesn’t care’ about French Open favourite tag

AN EMOTIONAL Marta Kostyuk dedicated her victory over compatriot Elina Svitolina to the peo ple of Ukraine after advancing to her first grand slam semifinal at the French Open. Kostyuk, 23, is the first Ukrainian woman to reach the semifinals of Roland Garros after win ning the final four games of the match to beat her idol Svitolina, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. Kostyuk has won 17 matches in a row and is unbeaten on clay this season. Her opening match in Paris last week came after a missile strike nar rowly missed her parents’ home in Kyiv. A first Ukrainian semifinalist was guaranteed as Kostyuk played Svitolina, the seventh seed. On Monday, at least 18 people were killed in Ukraine CZECH YOUNGSTER Jakub Mensik pro duced a brilliant display to upstage Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca and reach the French Open semifinals yesterday. The 20-year-old Mensik beat Fonseca 6 4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier to extend his best run at a Grand Slam. Mensik, the world No. 27, will take on second seed and title favourite Alexander Zverev tomorrow for a place in the final. “I’m excited for the challenge,” said Mensik. He is the youngest Czech men’s semifinalist at a major and the first from his country to reach the last four since Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon in 2017. “It was one of my best per formances so far,” said Mensik. “I knew it was going to be a tough one. In the end of the match there were some incredible shots. The last 20-30 minutes of the matches, it was really just insane the level from both of us.” It was the youngest Roland Garros men’s quarterfinal since a 20-year-old Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in 2006. Djokovic was 19 at the time. A thrilling third-round win over Djokovic two decades on marked a com ing of age for Fonseca, who backed it up with a victory over two-time runner-up Casper Ruud to advance to his first Grand Slam quarter-final. But Mensik, whose best prior result at the majors was an injury-curtailed run to the last 16 at this year’s Australian Open, showed no fear against Fonseca, the 28th seed. Mensik pulled out of his scheduled clash with Djokovic in Melbourne with an abdominal injury and then saw his clay-court season disrupted by a toe infection before he came down with a virus.“Before Roland Garros, I was finally healthy,“ he said. “I was well prepared, without any injury, playing pain-free, and as the tour nament goes on, I’m playing better and better.” Mensik secured the opening set against Fonseca with a break in the fifth game, repeating the feat at the same stage of the second before breaking once more to surge into a commanding two-set lead. The Czech was broken at the outset of the third set but quickly hit back. Fonseca edged ahead to lead 5-3, yet Mensik saved a set point and battled his way back on serve.Fonseca then pro duced a remarkable escape, saving six match points to force a tie-break, but Mensik finally subdued his stub born opponent at the seventh time of asking. – AFP Mensik tames Fonseca to reach semis Ű BY JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

SIDENETTING Lukaku makes Belgium return with ‘ideal’ goal BELGIUM CAPTAIN Youri Tielemans said yesterday Napoli forward Romelu Lukaku scoring on his first international appear ance in more than a year in a 2-0 World Cup friendly win over Croatia was“ideal”. Lukaku found the net in the 96th minute in Rijeka having been missing since September 2025 due to injury in the Red Devils’ penul timate match before their tournament opener against Egypt on June 16 (3am Malaysian time). The 33-year-old has played just 64 minutes for his club this sea son due to a hip niggle. “This is ideal for Romelu, but also ideal for the team,” Belgium captain Youri Tielemans told VTM . “We know how important he is to the group. He is sharp and mentally everything is fine too. We are going to need him very badly,” Aston Villa midfielder Tielemans added. Coach Rudi Garcia side led 1-0 at the break thanks to an effort from Tielemans after 38 minutes. ISMAEL SAIBARI scored twice as Morocco eased to a 4-0 victory over Madagascar in a friendly yesterday, delivering a confident performance ahead of the World Cup. The PSV Eindhoven midfielder gave the hosts a dream start, heading in a fourth-minute corner from Bilal El Khannouss at the far post, before doubling the lead in the 24th minute after capitalising on a defensive error. Morocco continued to dictate the tempo after the break and extended their advantage in the 78th minute when Azzedine Ounahi was fouled inside the penalty area. Soufiane Rahimi stepped up and converted from the spot to make it 3-0. Brahim Diaz played a key role in the fourth goal late on, driving into the box from the right before his effort struck the post, allow ing Ayoub El Kaabi to tap in from close WORLD CUP-BOUND Ghana conceded a last-gasp equaliser to hosts Wales to draw 1-1 in their friendly international yesterday and extended their winless run to six matches. Lewis Koumas netted with a div ing header three minutes into stoppage time after Ghana looked on their way to a morale-boosting victory ahead of their departure to this month’s tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Substitute Caleb Yirenkyi snapped up a rebound off the upright to convert from close range in the 66th minute to give Ghana the lead after a bursting run from the halfway line from Ernest Nuamah. It was one of Ghana’s rare forward forays in a match which Wales dominated but failed to take their chances. Haiti rout New Zealand HAITI crushed a shambolic New Zealand 4 0 in a steamy World Cup warmup in Fort Lauderdale, Florida yesterday, delighting a buzzing crowd of Haitian fans and spoiling a milestone match for All Whites captain Chris Wood. Ruben Providence struck in the 12th minute at Inter Miami CF Stadium and substitute Lenny Joseph doubled the lead for the 82nd-ranked Caribbeans six min utes after the restart. Frantzdy Pierrot grabbed a third with a header after the hour-mark before Markhus Lacroix finished the demolition job with a long-range rocket as the counter-punching Grenadiers dismantled the World Cup’s lowest-ranked nation. New Zealand skipper Wood became his nation’s most-capped player with 89 appearances, moving one past Ivan Vicelich, but there was little to celebrate for the Nottingham Forest striker. Morocco hit four past Madagascar range in the 87th minute. Wales equalise late to draw with Ghana

Zverev has finished runner-up three times in Grand Slam finals, including at Roland Garros two years ago, and knows the pressure is firmly on him in the French capital as he bids to shake off his unwanted title of tennis’ nearly-man. “As I said before, I don’t particularly care (about being the favourite),” Zverev told reporters. “I focus on next match, and I focus on the opponent as they cross the net, and that’s the only thing that I can control.” His next opponent will be 20-year-old Jakub Mensik, who downed 19-year-old Joao Fonseca 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier to extend his best run at a Grand Slam. “Who do I prefer to play? I don’t care at all, to be honest. No, I just don’t care. For me, it doesn’t mat ter,” the 29-year-old said. “We have fantastic players that are young on the tour right now, we have a lot of potential on the tour right now. But, again, I have to trust myself, trust my game and focus on my job.” Despite downplaying his propulsion into the position of favourite with the shock results thrown up so far in the tournament, Zverev was forced to admit the elimination of 39-year-old Djokovic had somewhat opened up his route to the final in the bottom half of the draw. “I feel like the draw opened up a lot on the top half (with Sinner’s exit). I feel like in the bottom half, less,” he said. “Of course, with Joao Fonseca beating Djokovic, it’s a big match that opened up the draw. Everything else is kind of normal-ish on the bottom half. In the top half, of course, it’s different.” Zverev has only dropped one set so far in the tournament but he came close to losing the opener on Court Philippe Chatrier to 27th seed Jodar, before rallying back from 5-2 down to take it in a tie break. From that point on, he accelerated smoothly through the next two sets to bring an end to an impressive debut Roland Garros campaign for the teenager. Jodar was ranked 707th in the world this time last year, losing in the first and second rounds of second-tier Challenger events in the United States during the 2025 French Open. The Madrid native told reporters after his quarterfinal exit that he believed Zverev was the most likely candidate to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires on Sunday. “He’s a great player. He does every thing very well. He has a lot of experience. He has been in these kind of stadiums a lot of years, and I think that’s a key that’s very important to face the important and the pressure moments in the match,” Jodar said. “I mean, yes (Zverev is the favourite). He has to win two more matches, so yeah, all the players that are in the semi-finals on Friday have the same chances. “If they are in semifinals, it’s because they have done great results. I wish them all the best, and the best player… at the weekend will win the title.” – AFP Kostyuk knocked out four-time Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek in the fourth round and against Svitolina stepped up her level in the third set to get over the line. ”I missed one point in the beginning of the third set, and I looked at (coach) Sandra (Zaniewska) and she was really, really pissed. I don’t see her like this,” she said. “And I was like, OK, this is what I need to do, and I’m very happy that I found a way. It was very difficult to, the first two sets. I wasn’t aggressive enough. “Then I found that rhythm and I was struggling a little bit. But I’m very happy that I committed to it. I was thinking how do I want to play if I want to win the tournament here, and this was the answer and it worked.” – The Independent

to win a first major after he laid down a marker at the French Open yesterday with a straight-sets vic tory over Rafael Jodar. With the crushing 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 6 3 win over the 19-year-old Spaniard, Zverev advanced to his fifth Roland Garros semifinal in the last six years.

The second seed is consid ered the heavy favourite to win his first Grand Slam title following the shock early departures of top

seed Jannik Sinner and 24-time major cham pion Novak Djokovic last week in Paris.

Alexander Zverev returns a shot during his French Open quarterfinal matchat Roland Garros yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Emotional Marta dedicates win to Ukraine

after Russia launched a large aerial strike. “We had a very difficult night again in Ukraine, especially in Kiev, so many people dead, and I want to give this match to the Ukrainian people and to their resilience,” a visibly upset Kostyuk said. ”And of course I want to point out Elina and her incredible impact on Ukrainian tennis, on Ukrainians, and on me and everyone who’s watch ing. “She’s an unbelievable fighter, and I’m so happy to be through the semifinals, but I want to thank her again for this incredible match.” Svitolina, 31, lost her sixth French Open quar terfinal after Kostyuk surged clear in the decider to set up a semifinal against Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, the eighth seed.