French Open: Police begin match fixing investigation over women's doubles match

Incident under scrutiny involves Russia’s Yana Sizikova after her serve was broken in the fifth game of the second set of her first round match

PARIS, FRANCE - SEPTEMBER 28: General view of court 13 with Court Suzanne Lenglen in the background on day two of the 2020 French Open at Roland Garros on September 28, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

A general view of the Roland Garros grounds, where the French Open is staged. Getty Images

The National

Oct 07, 2020

An investigation into potential match fixing at Roland Garros has been opened by French police after a flurry of wagers were reportedly made on a specific game during a women's doubles match on September 30.

According to German newspaper Die Welt, hundreds of thousands of euros were placed on a break of serve in the fifth game of the second set in the French Open first round match that saw Russia's Yana Sizikova and American Madison Brengle take on Romanians Andrea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig.

I was told by several sources that many bookmakers issued alerts for abnormal betting in Sizikova/Brengle match at Roland Garros, Set 2 Game 5, Sizikova on serve to get broken. She got broken to love. This is the video of the game (thanks to @UnArdeal for finding the video). pic.twitter.com/OPSO6hBjJj
— Stefano Berlincioni (@Carretero77) October 1, 2020

With the score level at 2-2 in the second set, Sizikova was on serve and proceeded to lose the game to love, with the Russian responsible for three of the four lost points.

She opened the game with a double fault, with both serves ending up in the middle of the net. After missing her first serve on the second point, Sizikova appeared to stumble when attempting to reach the ball after she had directed a shot at the opposing net player, Tig.

Mitu and Tig went up 0-40 when Mitu hit a volley winner, before Sizikova completed the game with another double fault.

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As is the protocol, the Tennis Integrity Unit declined to comment on the matter.

According to the anti-corruption body's website, there are currently 37 tennis figures, both players and officials, suspended for various corruption offences.

Those include Brazil's former world No 69 Joao Souza, who was handed a lifetime ban in January for "multiple match-fixing and associated corruption offences", and former world No 78 Nicolas Kicker from Argentina, who has been serving a six-year suspension since June 2018 for "committing match-fixing offences".

Mitu and Tig won the French Open first round doubles match against Sizikova and Brengle 7-6, 6-4.