tennis, rigged??
Briton caught up in £1m betting probe after unexpected triumph on tennis court
By MIKE DICKSON and RACHEL QUIGLEY
Last updated at 8:10 AM on 9th July 2010
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The odds should have been stacked against him.
But as he took to the tennis court on Tuesday, they had surprisingly moved in his favour.
The shock win of British tennis player Richard Bloomfield against Belgium's Christophe Rochus has aroused suspicion among tennis authorities.
At odds: Britain's Richard Bloomfield was backed at 1-8 to beat Rochus in Rhode Island
Ranked a lowly 552 in the world, Bloomfield's first round upset victory at the ATP Tour event in Newport Rhode Island, against the former world 38, will see an investigation launched into circumstances surrounding the match.
Reports of strange betting patterns before the game at the Hall of Fame Championships on Tuesday has been drawn to the attention of the anti-corruption Tennis Integrity Unit.
The alarm was raised after the match attracted more than £1million in wagers and saw seemingly unexplained movement in the markets prior to the game.
Fans watched as the 27-year-old underdog, from Norfolk, scored a 7-6 6-3 win over the Belgian, who is now ranked 160, in the post-Wimbledon grass court event.
It was only the second ATP tour level match he has won in his career.
The original match odds were around evens for both players, yet in the hours leading up to the match the British player was backed down to an inexplicable 1-4, raising the question of whether some punters already knew that Rochus was going to lose.
Probe: Investigators will question whether Christophe Rochus deliberately lost
Investigators will also seek to find out why so much money was bet on a relatively obscure match in what is a 250 level tournament - the lowest rung on the main ATP Tour.
Equivalent matches attracted around 15-20 times less money on on-line exchange Betfair. Some bookmakers stopped taking bets several hours before the start of the match.
Bloomfield, who served 19 Aces against Rochus compared to his two, hardened to around 1-8 after only one set.
He smashed his way into the next round after only one hour and 22 minutes, bringing him up against world number 54, Columbia's Santiago Giraldo who he also defeated, though this match has not attracted any suspicion.
According to sources he almost certainly would not have known anything untoward was going on but he is still likely to be spoken to.
He has now reached the quarter finals and will face 262 American Ryan Harrison
Neither Betfair nor the Tennis Integrity Unit were prepared to comment.
Before the win against Rochus, Bloomfield's only previous tour level victory had come in the opening round of Wimbledon 2006 when he beat Argentine Carlos Berlocq in straight sets.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0tGMPkFjP
By MIKE DICKSON and RACHEL QUIGLEY
Last updated at 8:10 AM on 9th July 2010
Comments (0)
Add to My Stories
The odds should have been stacked against him.
But as he took to the tennis court on Tuesday, they had surprisingly moved in his favour.
The shock win of British tennis player Richard Bloomfield against Belgium's Christophe Rochus has aroused suspicion among tennis authorities.
At odds: Britain's Richard Bloomfield was backed at 1-8 to beat Rochus in Rhode Island
Ranked a lowly 552 in the world, Bloomfield's first round upset victory at the ATP Tour event in Newport Rhode Island, against the former world 38, will see an investigation launched into circumstances surrounding the match.
Reports of strange betting patterns before the game at the Hall of Fame Championships on Tuesday has been drawn to the attention of the anti-corruption Tennis Integrity Unit.
The alarm was raised after the match attracted more than £1million in wagers and saw seemingly unexplained movement in the markets prior to the game.
Fans watched as the 27-year-old underdog, from Norfolk, scored a 7-6 6-3 win over the Belgian, who is now ranked 160, in the post-Wimbledon grass court event.
It was only the second ATP tour level match he has won in his career.
The original match odds were around evens for both players, yet in the hours leading up to the match the British player was backed down to an inexplicable 1-4, raising the question of whether some punters already knew that Rochus was going to lose.
Probe: Investigators will question whether Christophe Rochus deliberately lost
Investigators will also seek to find out why so much money was bet on a relatively obscure match in what is a 250 level tournament - the lowest rung on the main ATP Tour.
Equivalent matches attracted around 15-20 times less money on on-line exchange Betfair. Some bookmakers stopped taking bets several hours before the start of the match.
Bloomfield, who served 19 Aces against Rochus compared to his two, hardened to around 1-8 after only one set.
He smashed his way into the next round after only one hour and 22 minutes, bringing him up against world number 54, Columbia's Santiago Giraldo who he also defeated, though this match has not attracted any suspicion.
According to sources he almost certainly would not have known anything untoward was going on but he is still likely to be spoken to.
He has now reached the quarter finals and will face 262 American Ryan Harrison
Neither Betfair nor the Tennis Integrity Unit were prepared to comment.
Before the win against Rochus, Bloomfield's only previous tour level victory had come in the opening round of Wimbledon 2006 when he beat Argentine Carlos Berlocq in straight sets.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz0tGMPkFjP
