PARIS — Russian player Sergei Krotiouk was Thursday banned from tennis for life for match-fixing, the third man in the last two years to receive the sanction. Krotiouk, 34, and ranked at a lowly 789 in the world having risen to a career-high 486 in 2009, was also fined $60,000 after being found guilty of 41 violations, the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) revealed. “The violations for which he has been disciplined occurred during 2012 and 2013,” said TIU statement. Krotiouk spent all of his career playing on the second and third tier Challenger and Futures circuits and last year appeared in tournaments in Russia, India as well as Kazakhstan. — AP
