The points at the centre of the Roland Garros tennis match-fixing allegations are coming under severe scrutiny after disturbing footage emerged.French newspaper L’Equipe broke the story that unusually large sums of money were gambled on Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig beating Yana Sizikova and Madison Brengle in the first round women’s doubles.
Mitu and Maria Tig did indeed go on to win the match, but not without suspicion with Sizokova serving two double faults and appearing to unnaturally stumbling to lose her serve to love.
Even more worrying, it is reported that all the large bets were placed on Sizokova losing her serve.
Director general of French tennis Jean-François Vilotte refused to confirm which match was under investigation, but he said the processes designed to fight tennis match-fixing were proving efficient.
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
“It means that these warning systems are working,” he said.
“It’s good that everyone is doing their part in the exchange of information.
“You have to be vigilant, process the information, monitor and cooperate. That’s what is at work there.
“So we can only congratulate ourselves that these international cooperation mechanisms are working,” he said Tuesday.
“In this case, we had an observer at the match. He is in the process of sharing information with the investigation services.”
