By Randy Walker
NEWPORT, R.I. — One thing you can say about Newport, R.I. is that the fish is very good.
Cod, Salmon, Grouper and … Mardy.
Mardy Fish, America’s No 5 ranked player and the No. 5 seed at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Championships advanced into the semifinals Friday with a 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Canada’s Frank Dancevic.
Fish, the silver medalist in singles at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, will face Richard Bloomfield of Great Britain Saturday. The other semifinal will feature Olivier Rochus of Belgium against Brian Dabul of Argentina.
Fish was the top seed in Newport last year, but received a last minute call up to the U.S. Davis Cup team that was competing in Croatia and withdrew from the Hall of Fame Championships to answer his nation’s call of duty.
In seven previous appearances in Newport, Fish had reached the quarterfinals three times (2000, 2002, 2006), but was not able to break through into the final four.
“I have always played well here,” Fish said of Newport. “I just have not been able to win three (matches) in a row here.”
Bloomfield may be the biggest surprise of the week, reaching his first career ATP semifinal with a 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5 win over heralded 18-year-old American Ryan Harrison. Bloomfield is the No. 12 ranked player in talent-deprived Britain sitting at a ranking of No. 552. If he wins the tournament this weekend, Bloomfield would become the lowest ranked player to ever win an ATP World Tour singles title. He is ranked two spots worse than Lleyton Hewitt, who was ranked No. 550 when he won the singles title in Adelaide, Australia in 1998 as a 16-year-old.
Entering this week, Bloomfield had won only one career ATP World Tour level match – a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 first-round win at Wimbledon in 2006 over Carlos Berlocq of Argentina – a victory that attracted world-wide attention due to the suspicious betting patterns during the match. Due to irregular betting patterns, suspicious amounts of money was bet on Bloomfield, alleging that perhaps Berlocq could have been injured or was paid to “tank” the match to allow for profiteering among gamblers. Coincidentally, Bloomfield’s first-round win here in Newport over Christophe Rochus also attracted similar unwanted gambling attention.
Online gambling exchange Betfair told The Associated Press on Friday that Bloomfield’s 7-6 (1), 6-3 win over Rochus Tuesday attracted an unusual $1.5 million in wagers and was the subject of dramatic price movement.
Bloomfield was rated even money against his Rochus, ranked No. 160. In the hours before the match, the odds on Bloomfield winning were shortened to 1-4. After he won the first set, the odds shorted to 1-8.
“If people are willing to risk 4 pounds to win one, that is indicative of a substantial gamble,” Betfair spokesman Tony Calvin said to the Associated Press.
Notification of the irregular betting pattern was reported to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), an independent body created by the sport’s governing bodies to lead the fight against corruption.
It is standard procedure for the betting industry to share irregular activity on its markets with the TIU.
“It is not operational policy of the TIU to make any comment about an investigation that it may or may not be involved in,” TIU spokesman Mark Harrison told the AP
Randy Walker is a communications and marketing specialist, writer, tennis historian and the managing partner of New Chapter Media – www.NewChapterMedia.com. He was a 12-year veteran of the U.S. Tennis Association’s marketing and communications division where he worked as the press officer for 22 U.S. Davis Cup ties, three Olympic tennis teams and was an integral part of USTA media services team for 14 US Opens. He is the author of the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY (www.TennisHistoryBook.com).