Doubles’ specialist Yana Sizikova was arrested by French police as part of a match-fixing investigation dating back to October 2020.
The arrest was made in relation to sports corruption and organised gang fraud from last year’s tournament after bookmakers issued alerts for abnormal betting patterns during a women’s doubles match.
Sizikova and her partner Madison Brengle lost 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to the Romanian pair of Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig but suspicions rose after hundreds of thousands of euros were reportedly bet on Sizikova’s serve to be broken in the fifth game of the second set.
The pair did lose that service game to love and Sizikova served two double faults in the process.
This year Sizikova was partnered by Ekatarina Alexandrova as the duo lost 6-1, 6-1 to the Australian pair of Ajla Tomljanovic and Storm Sanders in the first round.
The Russian was arrested while leaving her massage session following the defeat and could face up to five years imprisonment and a £429,500 fine if she is proven guilty, however, Sizikova’s lawyers have said that their client denies any wrongdoing.
Back to the action
Daniil Medvedev continued his quest to become the world No 1 after an impressive display against America’s Reilly Opelka.
The Russian has publicly admitted his dislike of the clay surface however showed his class in a 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory on Philippe Chatrier.
Fifth-seed Stefanos Tsitsipas joined the world No 2 in the fourth round after battling back from a set down against another big-serving American John Isner to win in four.
The sixth-seed Alexander Zverev also continued his hot-streak with a dominant 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Laslo Djere.
The German will face Kei Nishikori in the next round after the Japanese player won the first set against Henri Laaksonen before the Swiss retired through injury.
Elsewhere, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina outlasted the 15th seed Casper Ruud to progress into the fourth round after four hours and 35 minutes on court.
The Spaniard will face Federico Delbonis in the next round after the Argentinian dispatched the 27th seed Fabio Fognini in straight sets.
Serena Williams eyes 24th Grand Slam as draw opens up
Serena Williams showed her champions’ mentality to overcome fellow American Danielle Rose Collins in a complicated 6-4, 6-4 victory.
The 39-year-old was forced to dig deep to take the first set before having to fight from a break down in the second set to advance.
Next up for the 23-time Grand Slam champion is Elena Rybakina, who continued her impressive start to the tournament, and the Kazakhstani is yet to drop a set following a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 victory over Elena Vesnina
While the major upset of the day came via the third seed Aryna Sabalenka.The Belarusian was the top seed left in the women’s draw but crashed out with a three-set defeat by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
However, there was no such drama for fellow Belarusian, Victoria Azarenka, who dominated a third-round encounter with Madison Keys defeating the 23rd seed 6-2, 6-2 in just one hour and 11 minutes.
