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Straits Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Alexander Zverev to meet Karen Khachanov in Canadian Open semi-finals
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Alexander Zverev of Germany serving during his quarter-final win over defending champion Alexei Popyrin of Australia on Aug 4. TORONTO – Alexander Zverev reached his 21st Masters 1000 semi-final on Aug 4 by ending the title defence of Alexei Popyrin 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 6-3 at the ATP Canadian Open. The final game, with Zverev serving at 5-3, was interrupted by shouts from an unruly fan who was tossed out by security. The distraction ended a run of 14 consecutive points on serve, with the top seed double-faulting once he was able to continue serving. He finished off the evening with a sharp volley winner at the net on his first match point. Zverev completed his 40th win of 2025 in just over 2½ hours. The world No. 3 won the tournament in 2017 but had not been past the quarter-finals in Canada since. 'After losing the first set, I had to tell myself we were both playing well,' the holder of seven Masters trophies said. 'I had one or two mistakes at the end of the first, but it was a high-level match. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 'She had a whole life ahead of her': Boyfriend mourns Yishun fatal crash victim Singapore Beauty industry consumers hit by 464% rise in prepayment losses in first half of 2025 Singapore 13 taken to hospital after accident involving SBS buses, car in Tampines Singapore Singapore-made bot matchmakes strangers virtually – without profile photos Life Urinary issues: Enlarged prostate affects half of men in their 50s and up Business Lendlease Reit to sell office component of Jem to Keppel for $462 million Singapore Elderly man charged after he allegedly molested, performed sex act on 'vulnerable' man 'I felt that if I kept playing well, I would get my chances – and I did. I can't complain about the second and third sets.' Zverev will bid for the oddly scheduled Aug 7 final against three-time semi-finalist Karen Khachanov, who dismissed young American Alex Michelsen 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). 'It was a very close, competitive match,' Khachanov said. 'I had to come back from some tough situations. 'How you handle that mentally is important. I was glad to close it out in the second set. 'I had to try and not give him the opportunity to step in and attack; that's what I did today.' Zverev has won five of the seven matches he has played against Khachanov. Popyrin and Zverev duelled throughout the evenly matched 71-minute opening set as it went into a tiebreaker. Zverev was unable to convert on two winning chances, but Popyrin came good on his own second opportunity with a net cord winner that caught his opponent stranded at the baseline. The German began to turn the tables in the second set, taking a 4-1 lead only to see the Aussie level at 4-4. Zverev pulled away to level the match at a set apiece, breaking for 6-4 as Popyrin sent a volley wide. The top seed began the final set with a 3-0 lead on his way into the tournament final four at the pre-US Open event. Popyrin remains winless against Zverev after losing all four of their matches. Over in Montreal, Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko stormed into the semi-finals of the women's tournament with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to continue her fairy-tale run. The 18-year-old, ranked 85th in the world, found herself a break down early in the second set, but won six straight games to become the first Canadian to reach the semi-finals of the Canadian Open since 2019. "I'm so excited to be in the semi-final here. I want to thank everyone for your support once again. It has been unreal," said Mboko, who beat No. 1 seed Coco Gauff on Aug 2 and is set to enter the top 50. Mboko next takes on Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, who was leading 6-1, 2-1 when her opponent, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, was forced to retire from their quarter-final match due to a wrist injury. Rybakina will meet Mboko for the second time in as many weeks, with the ninth-seeded Kazakh winning 6-3, 7-5 when the pair faced off in the Washington Open last month. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the Cincinnati Open for the second consecutive year, tournament organisers confirmed to US media on Aug 4. The 24-time Grand Slam champion has opted out of the US Open warm-up tournament following consecutive semi-final exits at the French Open and Wimbledon, where he was defeated on both occasions by world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. Djokovic also withdrew from Cincinnati in 2024 as defending champion not long after his triumph in the singles event at the Paris Olympics. The US Open will take place from Aug 24 to Sept 7 in New York. AFP, REUTERS
Straits Times
6 days ago
- General
- Straits Times
Death of a delta: Pakistan's Indus sinks and shrinks
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Abandoned houses are pictured in one of the villages of Kharo Chan town, in the Indus delta, south of Pakistan. KHARO CHAN, Pakistan - Salt crusts crackle underfoot as Habibullah Khatti walks to his mother's grave to say a final goodbye before he abandons his parched island village on Pakistan's Indus delta. Seawater intrusion into the delta, where the Indus River meets the Arabian Sea in the south of the country, has triggered the collapse of farming and fishing communities. 'The saline water has surrounded us from all four sides,' Mr Khatti told AFP from Abdullah Mirbahar village in the town of Kharo Chan, around 15km from where the river empties into the sea. As fish stocks fell, the 54-year-old turned to tailoring until that too became impossible with only four of the 150 households remaining. 'In the evening, an eerie silence takes over the area,' he said, as stray dogs wandered through the deserted wooden and bamboo houses. Kharo Chan once comprised around 40 villages, but most have disappeared under rising seawater . The town's population fell from 26,000 in 1981 to 11,000 in 2023, according to census data. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 'She had a whole life ahead of her': Boyfriend mourns Yishun fatal crash victim World Israel to decide next steps in Gaza after ceasefire talks collapse Singapore Singapore-made bot matchmakes strangers virtually – without profile photos Life Urinary issues: Enlarged prostate affects half of men in their 50s and up Business Lendlease Reit to sell office component of Jem to Keppel for $462 million Singapore Conditional warning for ex-manager at Mendaki accused of trying to obtain laptop as bribe Mr Khatti is preparing to move his family to nearby Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and one swelling with economic migrants, including from the Indus delta. The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, which advocates for fishing communities, estimates that tens of thousands of people have been displaced from the delta's coastal districts. However, more than 1.2 million people have been displaced from the overall Indus delta region in the last two decades, according to a study published in March by the Jinnah Institute, a think tank led by a former climate change minister. The downstream flow of water into the delta has decreased by 80 per cent since the 1950s as a result of irrigation canals, hydropower dams and the impacts of climate change on glacial and snow melt, according to a 2018 study by the US-Pakistan Centre for Advanced Studies in Water. That has led to devastating seawater intrusion. The salinity of the water has risen by around 70 per cent since 1990, making it impossible to grow crops and severely affecting the shrimp and crab populations. 'The delta is both sinking and shrinking,' said Mr Muhammad Ali Anjum, a local WWF conservationist. 'No other choice' Beginning in Tibet, the Indus River flows through disputed Kashmir before traversing the entire length of Pakistan. The river and its tributaries irrigate about 80 per cent of the country's farmland, supporting millions of livelihoods. The delta, formed by rich sediment deposited by the river as it meets the sea, was once ideal for farming, fishing, mangroves and wildlife. But more than 16 per cent of fertile land has become unproductive due to encroaching seawater, a government water agency study in 2019 found. In the town of Keti Bandar, which spreads inland from the water's edge, a white layer of salt crystals covers the ground. Boats carry in drinkable water from miles away and villagers cart it home via donkeys. 'Who leaves their homeland willingly?' said Mr Haji Karam Jat, whose house was swallowed by the rising water level. He rebuilt farther inland, anticipating more families would join him. 'A person only leaves their motherland when they have no other choice,' he told AFP. Way of life British colonial rulers were the first to alter the course of the Indus River with canals and dams, followed more recently by dozens of hydropower projects. Earlier in 2025, several military-led canal projects on the Indus River were halted when farmers in the low-lying riverine areas of Sindh province protested. To combat the degradation of the Indus River Basin, the government and the United Nations launched the Living Indus Initiative in 2021. One intervention focuses on restoring the delta by addressing soil salinity and protecting local agriculture and ecosystems. The Sindh government is currently running its own mangrove restoration project, aiming to revive forests that serve as a natural barrier against saltwater intrusion. Even as mangroves are restored in some parts of the coastline, land grabbing and residential development projects drive clearing in other areas. Neighbouring India meanwhile poses a looming threat to the river and its delta, after revoking a 1960 water treaty with Pakistan which divides control over the Indus basin rivers. It has threatened to never reinstate the treaty and build dams upstream, squeezing the flow of water to Pakistan, which has called it 'an act of war'. Alongside their homes, the communities have lost a way of life tightly bound up in the delta, said climate activist Fatima Majeed, who works with the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum. Women, in particular, who for generations have stitched nets and packed the day's catches, struggle to find work when they migrate to cities, said Ms Majeed, whose grandfather relocated the family from Kharo Chan to the outskirts of Karachi. 'We haven't just lost our land, we've lost our culture.' AFP
