Djokovic clinches his 100th career singles title at Geneva Open
Geneva (AP): Novak Djokovic finally clinched his 100th career singles title by rallying to beat Hubert Hurkacz 5-7, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2) in more than three hours to become the Geneva Open champion on Saturday.
Djokovic lost his two previous finals since his 99th title win nine months ago at the Paris Olympics at Roland-Garros.
The 100th was after a typically tough and hard-working match, two days after his 38th birthday and surrounded by his family in the Swiss city where some relatives reside.
“I'm just grateful to clinch the 100 here,” Djokovic said in an on-court interview. “I had to work for it, that is for sure.”
Djokovic joins tennis greats Jimmy Connors, who has a record 109 titles, and Roger Federer on 103 as the only men with a century of tournament wins in the Open era.
The three-time French Open champion heads back to Paris looking to add to his 24 Grand Slam singles titles. He has a French Open first-round match on Monday against Mackenzie McDonald of the United States.
The Serb clinched with an ace down the middle to complete a surge to victory after breaking Hurkacz's serve for the first time while trailing 4-3 in the deciding set. Djokovic took that break-point chance with a forehand cross-court winner advancing to the net on Hurkacz's sliced half-volley.
“Hubert was probably closer to the victory the entire match than I was,” Djokovic said. "I don't know how I broke his serve.”
He is the first man in the Open era to win a title in 20 different seasons.
Djokovic's 100th singles title came nearly 19 years after the first in July 2006. That also was on clay, at Amersfoort in the Netherlands, against Nicolás Massú — the Chilean who now coaches Hurkacz.
Since the Paris Olympics, Djokovic had lost finals at the Shanghai Masters to Jannik Sinner last year, and the Miami Masters to Jakob Mensik in March.
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Traffic fraud: Fake 'no-entry' sticker racket busted in Delhi, mastermind among 3 held
New Delhi (PTI): Police here have busted a crime syndicate involved in traffic fraud and extortion, arresting three people including the alleged mastermind who sold fake stickers to help commercial vehicles bypass no-entry restrictions, an official said on Saturday.
The police said they dismantled a third organised syndicate linked to traffic-related frauds, with the arrest of Rinku Rana alias Bhushan, his associate Sonu Sharma and Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, who was also connected to another extortion syndicate.
According to the police, Rinku Rana was running a well-organised network that facilitated the movement of commercial goods vehicles during restricted hours by selling fake 'marka' or stickers for Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 per vehicle every month. The stickers were falsely projected as authorisation to evade traffic challans.
During raids, the police recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash, property documents worth several crores of rupees, over 500 fake stickers and six mobile phones allegedly used to operate the syndicate.
The crackdown followed a complaint filed by a traffic police officer in April this year after a commercial vehicle tried to evade checking by producing a fake sticker claiming exemption from enforcement action.
Investigation revealed that social media groups were being used to coordinate the illegal movement of vehicles and alert drivers about traffic police checkpoints, police said.
"A parallel system was being run to cheat drivers and vehicle owners while undermining traffic enforcement. On the basis of evidence, provisions related to organised crime under the BNS were invoked," a senior police officer said.
Sonu Sharma, the police said, managed social media groups through which stickers were sold and real-time alerts were circulated regarding traffic police movement. He also acted as a link between Rana and drivers operating in the field.
In a related development, Mukesh Kumar alias Pakodi, an associate of Rajkumar alias Raju Meena, who was earlier arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), was also apprehended.
Mukesh allegedly helped extort money from transporters and was involved in blackmailing traffic police personnel by recording enforcement actions, the police said.
Investigators alleged the syndicate led by Rajkumar deployed drivers to deliberately violate traffic rules and secretly record police officials during challans, later using manipulated videos to extort money under threat of false allegations.
The police said that in total, eight accused belonging to three different organised crime syndicates linked to traffic frauds and extortion have been arrested so far.
Further investigation is underway to trace the remaining members, conduct financial probes, and analyse digital evidence recovered during the raids, officials added.
