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- Russian tennis player Yana Sizikova has been arrested, reportedly over match fixing in a women’s doubles match at the French Open.
- Her arrest reportedly relates to abnormal betting patterns discovered during Sizikova’s first round women’s doubles match last year.
- More sports news here.
26-year-old Russian tennis player Yana Sizikova was arrested at the French Open over allegations of match-fixing during last year’s event, according to reports out of Paris.
Le Parisien reports that Sizikova, a doubles specialist, was arrested Thursday night as she was coming out of her massage session following her first-round women’s doubles match with her partner Ekaterina Alexandrova, a 6-1 6-1 loss.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said Sizikova was taken into custody by police for “sports bribery and organized fraud for acts likely to have been committed in September 2020.” Sizikova’s hotel room was also reportedly searched.
The arrest is part of an investigation into “sports corruption” that was opened last October by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
The match in question occured last year at the French Open. Bookmakers issued alerts for abnormal betting patterns during Sizikova’s first-round women’s doubles match with Madison Brengle of the United States, reports the Guardian.
Sizikova and Brengle lost that match 7-6(8) 6-4. The Guardian reports that “hundreds of thousands of euros were reportedly wagered on a break of serve at 2-2” in the fifth game of the second set.
Sizikova double faulted twice and was responsible for three of the points her side lost in that game.
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When reached for comment by the RIA news agency, Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpischev said, “We have not received any documents (regarding the case), so it’s difficult to make an assessment of what has happened.”
Sizikova is currently ranked 101st in the women’s doubles rankings and 765th in singles. She has earned a total of $206,617 in prize money during her 11 year career.