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Suspicious betting detected on ATP match

By STEPHEN WILSON, AP Sports Writer

LONDON - As the NBA grapples with a betting scandal, tennis must now confront a potential gambling scam of its own.

Officials on Friday were investigating suspicious betting patterns on a match involving top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who retired with an injury against a low-ranked opponent at an ATP tournament in Poland.

In an unprecedented move, British online gambling company Betfair voided all bets Friday placed on Thursday's second-round match at the Prokom Open in Sopot between the defending champion and No. 4-ranked Davydenko and No. 87-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina.

Betfair said it received about $7 million in bets on the match � 10 times the usual amount � and most of the money was on Arguello to win, even after Davydenko won the first set 6-2.

The tennis probe comes in the wake of the scandal involving former NBA referee Tim Donaghy. He is the target of an FBI investigation for allegedly betting on games, including some he officiated, during the last two seasons. He resigned July 9.

Arguello won the second set 6-3 and was leading 2-1 in the third when the Russian retired. Davydenko said he aggravated a left foot injury in the second set. He received medical attention from a tournament trainer before deciding to quit.

"I don't think that he (Davydenko) has something to do with this," Arguello said Friday. "I was playing against him, but he was playing also with an injury, and that's all that I know about the match, and that's also what I felt in the match. I felt nothing else."

Betfair, which has had an agreement with the ATP since 2003 to share information on any irregular betting activity, said it was concerned with the volume of wagers coming in on Arguello from the start.

"We think the market quite clearly wasn't fair," Betfair managing director Mark Davies said. "The prices seemed very odd. As a result, in the interest of fairness and integrity and in consultation with the ATP, we have decided to void the market and return all stakes to (bettors)."

It's the first time the company has taken such a step in any sport. Davies said Betfair would turn over its betting records for the ATP to investigate.

"The ATP takes issues surrounding gambling extremely seriously," the men's tour said in a statement. "We are committed to ensuring our sport remains corruption free and have strict rules in place governing this area.

"In addition we have memorandums of understanding with U.K. and European betting companies that ensures information pertaining to any ATP Tour match that may look suspicious, based upon gambling patterns, is shared with us immediately."

ATP officials said Friday that Davydenko had left Poland.

"Normally I try to fight to the end but it was very painful and I may have done even more damage by trying to finish the match," Davydenko said Thursday after the match. "Since the beginning of Monday I've had a problem with my left toes. Today that became a problem with my foot."

Since losing in the fourth round at Wimbledon to Marcos Baghdatis, Davydenko lost three straight first-round matches � to Gael Monfils at the Swiss Open, Florent Serra at the Dutch Open and Gilles Simon at the Croatia Open � before beating Andrei Pavel, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round in Poland.

Arguello lost 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Friday in the quarterfinals to another Argentine player, Jose Acasuso.

"I saw Davydenko playing very well the first set, and I saw also that he had problems with his feet, and that was true, he was not inventing that, so it's difficult to suspect him," Arguello told The Associated Press by telephone from his hotel room in Sopot.

At Wimbledon in 2006, Betfair reported irregular patterns surrounding a first-round match between British wild card Richard Bloomfield and Carlos Berlocq of Argentina.

Berlocq, who was ranked 170 places higher than Bloomfield, lost 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Most of the bets placed were on Berlocq to lose. However, no wrongdoing was detected.

Allegations of match-fixing in tennis have cropped up in the past.

In 2003, bookmakers reportedly suspended betting six hours before Russian player Yevgeny Kafelnikov's match in Lyon, France, against Fernando Vicente after a big wager was place on the Spaniard. Vicente, who had been winless for several months, won in straight sets. There was no suggestion either player was involved in wrongdoing, and no investigation was made by the ATP.

Several Russian tennis players were photographed a few years ago with Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, a suspected mobster from the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan who was accused of fixing the pairs and ice dancing events at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Photographs of Tokhtakhounov with Kafelnikov, Marat Safin and Andrei Medvedev were taken off Medvedev's Web site in 2002 after the man's arrest. Tokhtakhounov spent nearly a year in a Venice, Italy, prison but escaped extradition to the United States in 2003 on the Olympic rigging charges.

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An update...

Agent: Davydenko knows nothing

By RYAN LUCAS, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 17 minutes ago

WARSAW, Poland - Nikolay Davydenko "has nothing whatsoever to do" with the suspicious betting patterns on his second-round match at the Prokom Open, the player's agent said.
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ATP Tour officials are investigating the fourth-ranked Davydenko's loss Thursday to the 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina in which the Russian retired because of injury in the deciding set.

In an unprecedented move Friday, British online gambling company Betfair voided all bets placed on the match, saying the market wasn't fair.

Betfair said it received about $7 million in bets on the match � 10 times the usual amount � and most of the money was on Arguello to win, even after Davydenko won the first set 6-2.

Eckhard Oehms, Davydenko's agent, denied the 26-year-old player had any connection to the betting.

"We've got nothing whatsoever to do with that," Oehms told The Associated Press by telephone Saturday. "Neither Nikolay nor his coach nor me nor anybody out of our entourage has been involved in this.

"This is a matter that is important to us. We can't have his reputation being spotted by things like this."

Arguello won the second set 6-3 and was leading 2-1 in the third when Davydenko retired, saying he had aggravated a left foot injury in the second set. He received medical attention from a tournament trainer before deciding to quit.

The ATP says Davydenko officially retired from the match with tendinitis in his left big toe.

Oehms said Davydenko flew Friday to Germany, where he received treatment on his foot at the University of Cologne Clinic. The player has since forwarded all the necessary medical reports to the ATP, Oehms said.

Oehms said Davydenko was "flabbergasted" when told about the suspicious gambling patterns.

"He said: 'What?'" Oehms said. "He's very outspoken, he's not scheming or hiding. He's a very plain, open person. He just couldn't get what this is.

"He hasn't won a tournament this year ... He had to defend a lot of points in Sopot and he has no other tournaments to make up for it. So, he personally has no reason whatsoever for foul play. He's desperate to win."