Story highlights
Serbia's David Savic banned from tennis for life and fined $100,000
The 26-year-old was found guilty of three corruption charges
World No. 4 Andy Murray will face Donald Young in Sunday's Thailand Open final
Agnieszka Radwanska wins the Tokyo Open final, beating Vera Zvonareva
A Serbian tennis player has been banned for life and fined $100,000 after being found guilty of match-fixing offenses.
David Savic has been punished for three violations of the 2010 Uniform Tennis Anti-Corruption Program in October 2010, it was revealed on Saturday.
A Tennis Integrity Unit investigation found that the 26-year-old tried to contrive the outcome of an event, sought to persuade another player to not try to win and also offered money “with the intention of negatively influencing a player’s best efforts in any event.”
Savic is currently ranked 659th in singles, with a highest standing of 363 in October 2009. He is a compatriot of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who helped Serbia win the Davis Cup last year before winning three grand slam titles in 2011.
Savic is the second man to be banned for life over match-fixing, following Austria’s Daniel Kollerer in May.
The Tennis Integrity Unit is run by the International Tennis Federation, the Grand Slam Committee and the men’s ATP and women’s WTA tours.
Meanwhile, world No. 4 Andy Murray will face Donald Young in Sunday’s Thailand Open final after the American upset second seed Gael Monfils.
Young, ranked 55th, triumphed 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) against the Frenchman in Saturday’s semis to reach his first top-level title match.
He has already beaten Murray once this year, at Indian Wells, but lost to the Briton in the fourth round of the U.S. Open.
Young will break into the men’s top-50 next week, having started August in 128th place.
The defeat dented 14th-ranked Monfils’ hopes of reaching the season-ending ATP World Tour finals in London.
Murray, who was runner-up in Bangkok in his first ATP final six years ago, is seeking his third title this year after winning 6-2 3-6 6-2 against another Frenchman, Gilles Simon.
Agnieszka Radwanska boosted her hopes of qualifying for the season-ending WTA Championships in Turkey by winning the Tokyo Open title on Saturday.
The Polish ninth seed defeated world No. 4 Vera Zvonareva for the third time this year, with the 22-year-old winning 6-3 6-2 to claim her sixth title.
Zvonareva has already qualified for Istanbul, and is joined by Tokyo semifinalists Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion.
“Before this tournament my chances of qualifying for the Championships were very small, but now they’ll be better,” Radwanska said.
The China Open has also begun, with Italian seventh seed Francesca Schiavone and Russia’s No. 16 Svetlana Kuznetsova winning first-round matches in Beijing on Saturday.
Ninth seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany also went through, but Serbian 10th seed Jelena Jankovic was beaten 7-5 6-4 by Austria’s Tamira Paszek.
