The information was released by the local newspaper "Le Parisien", and confirmed by sources from the police and the prosecutor's office in the French capital.
The first round doubles match between Romanian pair Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig, and rival pair Russia's Yana Sizikova and US playing partner Madison Brengle, attracted scrutiny after several large bets were placed on a service break in the fifth game of the second set.
With Sizokova serving, the Russian served three double faults and stumbled on a volley return, handing her opponents a love game.
French newspaper L'Equipe reported that large sums of money were bet on the Romanians winning that game and that the wagers were placed in several countries. Mitu and Maria Tig went on to win the match 7-6, 6-4.
According to a source close to the case, interviewed in October, bets on this game reached "abnormally high sums of tens of thousands of euros."
International alerts
The Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ), the French body that regulates gaming, horse racing and sports betting in the country, had not detected any anomalies "in the French market", but received alerts from the GLMS (Global Lottery Monitoring System) and the group of Copenhagen (which brings together 33 platforms to combat sport manipulation in the world).
The French Tennis Federation (FFT), organizer of Roland Garros, confirmed "the player's detention". The organization said it could not provide more information, "because this is an ongoing judicial investigation."
Tennis has been hit by cases of match-fixing, but usually in the second or third category. Several investigations have been opened in France. So far, the most-known investigation in the country was opened by the Public Finance Ministry (PNF) in July 2019 for sports corruption, criminal association and money laundering, with European ramifications.
The process, still in progress, is linked to an investigation initiated in Belgium that reaches at least seven countries (Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany, Netherlands, France, United States and Belgium) with a highly structured group in Eastern European countries, specialized in tennis matches.
Source: AFP
