Betting suspended on Australian Open doubles match
A major international sports betting website suspended betting on a mixed doubles match at the Australian Open on Sunday after a big plunge, raising further suspicions about match-fixing at the grand slam tournament.
A huge amount of money was put on Andrea Hlavackova and Lukasz Kubot to beat Lara Arruabarrena and David Marrero in the first round, Marco Blume of Pinnacle Sports told the New York Times.
Blume, the head of sportsbook for the website, said the big plunge was an indication that the match could be fixed.
Hlavackova and Kubot triumphed in straight sets 6-0, 6-3, winning the first set in just 20 minutes.
The Spanish pair of Arruabarrena and Marrero, who are 33rd and 32nd respectively in the doubles, rejected any fixing claims.
Marrero said a knee injury was behind his poor performance.
Pinnacle Sports suspended betting on the match 13 hours before it began with Blume alerting the Victorian Police of the plunge.
“We saw a small number of people placing a large amount of money,” Blume said.
“In context, these matches are rather small. That means that any aggressive betting behavior is very easy to detect on our side.”
There were no other matches at the Australian Open where irregular betting had occurred, according to Blume.
The worrying plunge comes after a media report last week that current and former top-50 players, including several at this month's Australian Open, are suspected match-fixers.
