Tennis-No place for match-fixing in tennis, says Haas

By Martin Petty

BANGKOK, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Increased betting on tennis is putting the sport at risk of match-fixing, according to former world number two Tommy Haas, and the German wants players and officials to keep it at bay.

"You hear stories and you wonder why we aren't watching out for these guys at tournaments," Haas told Reuters.

"There have been cases where it's quite obvious. We've had meetings about gambling... those who do it shouldn't get away with it."

A rare tennis scandal surfaced last month after internet betting firm Betfair voided bets on an ATP match in Poland between world number four Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassalo Arguello of Argentina after it noticed unusual betting patterns, with more than $7 million wagered on the match.

Davydenko, 70 places above the Argentine in the rankings, won the first set, but odds on the Russian suddenly drifted as all the money was placed on Arguello.

Davydenko, who retired injured with the match level at one set all, denies any involvement.

Etienne de Villiers, the executive chairman of the ATP, says the sport does not have a serious gambling problem, despite an article by French sports daily L'Equipe, which quoted two high-ranked anonymous players as saying they had witnessed thrown matches.

One player quoted in the article also estimated 60-80 percent of coaches were regularly visiting internet betting sites.