Russian arrested and accused of match-fixing
The Russian tennis player arrested on suspicion of match-fixing at last year’s French Open was released from police custody yesterday, said judicial officials.
Yana Sizikova, who was arrested on Thursday in Paris after competing in a French Open doubles match, was not formally charged after questioning but remains under investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
The 26-year-old Sizikova denies the allegations, according to her lawyer, Frederic Belot.
He said Sizikova wants to file a complaint for defamation.
The prosecutor’s office said Sizikova was arrested for “sports bribery and organised fraud for acts likely to have been committed in September 2020”.
The case was opened last October by a French police unit specialising in betting fraud and match-fixing.
It has previously worked with Belgian authorities investigating suspect matches at the lower levels of professional tennis.
The French tennis federation said it could not provide further information because the investigation is ongoing.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency, which investigates matchfixing in the sport, declined to comment on the details of the case but said “there has been ongoing liaison between the ITIA and law enforcement in France”.
Sizikova’s lawyer said the player was “extremely shocked”.
“She was placed in custody like a criminal. She says she is innocent and did not want me to assist her during her questioning because she considers herself like a victim,” Belot said.
Belot said he started representing Sizikova yesterday only after he was approached by the player’s parents. He said Sizikova had contacted the ITIA when the case was opened last year to deny any wrongdoing.
The prosecutor’s office said the probe centred on suspicions about one match at Roland Garros last year. It did not specify the match. German newspaper Die Welt and French sports daily L’Equipe said at the time there were suspicious betting patterns in the first round of a women’s doubles match on September 30.
On that day, Sizikova and partner Madison Brengle, of the United States, played on Court 10 against Romanians Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig. Sizikova was broken to love serving in the fifth game of the second set, during which she doublefaulted twice.
Le Parisien reported that tens of thousands of euros were bet with several operators in different countries on the Romanian players winning that game.
Last year’s French Open, delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic, was played in late September and early October.