Police in Paris have detained Russian tennis player Yana Sizikova over the suspected fixing of a doubles match at the French Open last year.
Sizikova, 26, who is 101st in the women’s doubles rankings, was detained on Thursday night at the end of a match in this year’s tournament, a police and legal source said.
Le Parisien newspaper, which first reported the arrest, said that she was detained after she came out of her post-match massage. Her hotel room was also searched, it added.
An investigation into possible sports corruption and organised fraud was opened last October over a first-round match in 2020 in which Sizikova and her American partner Madison Brengle lost to Romanian pair Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig.
Suspicions were aroused because of abnormally high betting activity on the match in countries outside France, which was reported to law enforcement, a source close to the case said at the time.
One game in particular was being analysed by investigators after it featured two unusual double-faults by Sizikova who lost her serve to love.
On Thursday, Sizikova and her new partner Ekaterina Alexandrova lost 1-6, 1-6 to Storm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic in the women’s doubles first round.
Sizikova, who lives between Russia and Spain, was competing at Roland Garros for the first time in 2020.