Dolgopolov-Monteiro clash under investigation for suspicious betting

Thiago Monteiro’s win over Alexandr Dolgopolov at the Winston-Salem Open (Australia), has forced the UIT to begin an investigation. The reason is that bookmakers suspended their markets following alleged suspicious betting patterns. Monteiro (#14 in the world) beat the Ukrainian (#63 in the world) 2-0, 6-3, 6-3. Some hours before the start of the game the odds dropped in an unusual way in favor of Monteiro.

Dolgopolov (former top-20 player) was the favorite for this match (hard-court surface) until some bookmakers stop accepting bets, as a lot of stakes were being placed on the Brazilian. This betting activity resulted in a reverse of the odds.

The two players first met on July (clay surface) where Monteiro had won Dolgopolov 2-1. On the contrary in Australia, the Ukrainian lost in 55 minutes and did not manage to get a single break-point chance.

The odds shifted so dramatically that UIT commented directly that something was way too unusual. The UIT officials made a statement about the case: “The TIU was made aware of concerns over betting patterns during the match. As with all match alerts, the TIU will assess, make a judgement and take appropriate action on the information received through its co-operative agreements with betting operators.”

In 2016, there had been more than 292 recorded instances that the UIT took into consideration. This number went up from 246 in 2015.

Following a BBC and BuzzFeed News investigation, an independent review panel was set up to uncover illegal tennis betting patterns. This panel makes a report every three (3) months to warn about suspicious matches, such as those arising from betting companies’ reports.