PARIS: Paris police on Friday detained Russian tennis player Yana Sizikova over the suspected fixing of a doubles match at the French Open last year, a police and legal source told AFP.
Sizikova, 26, who is ranked 101st in the women’s doubles rankings, was detained on Thursday night after playing in this year’s tournament, the source in the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
An investigation into possible corruption and fraud was opened last October over a first-round match in 2020 that saw Sizikova and her American partner Madison Brengle defeated by Romanian pair Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig.
Suspicions were aroused because of abnormally high betting activity on the game registered in countries outside of France which was reported to law enforcement, a source close to the case told AFP at the time.
One game in particular — the fifth of the second set — was being analysed by investigators after it featured two unusual double-faults by Sizikova.
On Thursday, Sizikova and her new partner Ekaterina Alexandrova were heavily defeated in under an hour 1-6, 1-6 by Australian pair Storm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic in the first round of the women’s doubles.