ATP consult chiefs over suspicious betting patterns

Tennis chiefs will meet security experts from British horseracing as part of their investigation into suspicious betting patterns in the sport.

Online bookmaker Betfair last week voided the market on top seed Nikolay Davydenko’s match with world number 87 Martin Vassallo at the Poland Open in Sopot.

Davydenko won the first set 6-2 but then lost the second 6-3 and was trailing 2-1 in the third when he withdrew with a foot injury.

Betfair reported an usually high number of bets on the match and informed the ATP Tour, the governing body of men’s tennis, of their concerns.

The ATP launched their own investigation and today confirmed they will meet members of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA).

An ATP spokesman told the Guardian: “We can confirm that representatives of the ATP plan to meet with the BHA in the near future.

“It is a body with experience in this area and we are keen to utilise that experience to help us with this investigation.”

The BHA’s security unit is led by former detective chief superintendent Paul Scotney.

Spokesman Owen Byrne said the BHA were happy to use their expertise to help the ATP.

He told PA Sport: “Basically, the ATP has approached us to take advice on the matter.

“This approach happened over the last few days, although no meetings have been held as yet.

“The British Horseracing Authority is an experienced body in this area.

“The sport itself is no stranger to this issue and has dealt with similar sort of problems before.

“We at the BHA have a dedicated team of skilled betting analysts and investigators and the tennis guys want to see how we can be of assistance.

“Racing is one of first sports to have a memorandum of understanding between ourselves and Betfair. We have this memorandum with most betting exchanges and all bookmakers.

“This allows us to get access to the audit trails of betting. We are quite happy to help where asked.”