LONDON: Wimbledon came under the microscope on Thursday with three matches at this year’s tournament set to be investigated for possible match-fixing, according to the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU).

Two qualifying matches at Roehampton and one from the main Wimbledon draw triggered some bizarre betting patterns and are to be examined further, said the anti-corruption body that polices professional tennis.

“These will be assessed and reviewed in keeping with the TIU match alert policy below,” the TIU said on its website.

The TIU’s match alert policy means that the unit checks on irregularities such as strange betting tendencies, but it insisted the alerts are not evidence of match-fixing can be due to a number of other factors, including conditions and player fitness.

One match from June’s French Open will also be looked at — just four of 53 alerts received by the TIU since April, although the majority came from matches at the lower level Challenger, Futures and ITF Women’s tours.

There has been a decline in the number of alerts received by the TIU this year with 83 triggered in 2017 thus far — 38 fewer than at the same stage last year.

During the April-June period, 31,281 professional matches were played.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2017