- Russia's Yana Sizikova was arrested at the
French Open on Thursday, reports said. - She was arrested on charges of "
sports bribery and organized fraud" connected to last year's tournament. - Previous reports said Sizikova was suspected of tanking a first-round match at the 2020 French Open.
A Russian
Yana Sizikova, 26, was taken into custody leaving a massage session after she and her partner lost their first-round match in straight sets in the women's doubles tournament, Le Parisien reported.
The Paris prosecutor's office said a player had been arrested on charges of "sports bribery and organized fraud for acts likely to have been committed in September 2020," according to The Associated Press. It did not name Sizikova, telling the AP only that a "women's international player" had been arrested.
On Friday, the French Tennis Federation confirmed that Sizikova has been arrested, Sky News reported. The federation did not say what the arrest was related to.
French officials opened an investigation in October after L'Equipe and Die Welt published reports about suspicions that Sizikova had thrown her first-round doubles match at the 2020 French Open.
Of interest was Sizikova's behavior midway through the second set, when she and her partner, Madison Brengle of the US, and the Romanian duo Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig were tied at two games each.
Sizikova served three double faults and then botched a midcourt volley after appearing to sit on her heels near the baseline. Mitu and Tig went on to win the match 7-6, 6-4.
Tens of thousands of euros had been bet on the game, which favored the Romanians, a source told Agence France-Presse.
French authorities appeared to suspect gang involvement, as prosecutors described pursuing "fraud in an organized group," AFP reported.
Sizikova is not a big name in the sport and predominantly plays doubles, according to Le Parisien. She is 765th in women's singles in the Women's Tennis Association's rankings.