Paris prosecutors have confirmed officials are investigating a first-round women’s doubles match at the French Open over alleged match-fixing.
The investigation – which is likely to last several weeks – began on October 1, the day after Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig beat Yana Sizikova and Madison Brengle in straight sets at Roland-Garros, according to BBC Sport.
The investigation was said to have been launched due to suspicions of “organized fraud” and “corruption in sports.”
German outlet WELT reported bookmakers identified suspicious betting patterns in the fifth game of the second set, with hundreds of thousands of euros bet on Sizikova’s serve to be broken.
The Russian’s serve was broken to love after she delivered two double-faults and failed to make a return at 0-15.
Sizikova and American Brengle went on to lose the contest to the Romanian pairing 7-6 (8), 6-4.
Vice-president of the Russian Tennis Federation Alexei Selivanenko said on Sunday: “As long as there are no official documents, it is too early to comment on anything. Tennis has a zero-tolerance policy for cases of this kind.”
The Tennis Investigation Unit (TIU) has not commented on the matter with the investigation ongoing.
