Several players implicated in alleged match-fixing ring

Several Italian tennis players have been placed under investigation by the country's judicial authorities for their alleged involvement in a match-fixing ring, the details of which La Gazzetta dello Sport began publishing on Wednesday.

Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace are two of the players implicated in the investigation and are suspected of agreeing to fix the result of a match, according to skype calls, the paper claims.

The investigation, which is being conducted by the authorities in the Cremona municipality, constitutes part of a wider investigation into betting fraud in football and alleged match-fixing in the Italian leagues.

The data published in La Gazzetta dates from 2007 to 2009, and runs up to 2011, La Gazzetta wrote. In one of the conversations published, from June 2007, suspected members of the network, Manlio Bruni and Roberto Goretti, talk about the fixing of a match played at Newport between Bracciali (referred to by the codename Braccio78) and American player Scoville Jenkins.

According to the details published, Bracciali was allegedly offered "50" to lose the first set. The amount "50" refers to is unknown, but La Gazzetta talks about an amount of between 20,000 and 60,000 euros.

The player identified as Bracciali, according to the paper, expressed his doubts over whether he was in the right condition to assure that he would lose, but refers to similar amounts that were allegedly paid for other cases. Bracciali eventually lost the match against Jenkins 6-1, 6-2.

In Starace's case, the conversation published in La Gazzetta supposedly refers to a match he played in April 2011 against Spain's Pablo Andujar in the final of the Casablanca tournament and that he allegedly threw: Starace lost the match, despite a previous 5-0 record over the Spaniard.

Andujar, the world number 46, strenuously denied any knowledge of the affair. "I know him very well and I find it very difficult to believe that he would fix the final, especially as he was the favourite and he wanted to win his first title, but I can't say anything for certain about him."

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