Italian Tennis Player Found Guilty of Match-Fixing

Italian teenage tennis player Claudia Coppola, ranked 869 in the world, was on Wednesday banned for six months and fined $US4,000 on match-fixing charges.

The 18-year-old admitted the offences which were brought following an investigation by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU).

“The fine will be reduced to $3,000 if the player completes a Tennis Integrity Unit anti-corruption training program,” said a TIU statement.

Coppola admitted to contravening two articles of the anti-corruption code relating to the outcome of a match or encouraging a player to under-perform.

“The suspension applies with immediate effect and means that the player is not eligible to participate in any tournament or competition organised or authorised by the governing bodies of professional tennis,” added the statement.

Coppola plays mostly on the second-tier ITF circuit and boasts just over $8,000 in career prize money.

Back in June Dutchman Yannick Ebbinghaus was suspended for six months for betting illegally on matches while just a few days earlier Russian Sergei Krotiouk was given a life ban for match-fixing.

Krotiouk was the third man in two years to receive a life ban for match-fixing following Serbia’s David Savic and Austria’s Daniel Koellerer.