Angry Dolgopolov hits back at match fixing allegations

ALEXANDR Dolgopolov has angrily hit back at accusations of match-fixing following his first-round win at the US Open.

Alexandr Dolgopolov during his win over Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany.

ALEXANDR Dolgopolov has angrily hit back at accusations of match-fixing.

The Tennis Integrity Unit has confirmed it is looking into Dolgopolov’s defeat by Brazilian Thiago Monteiro at the Winston-Salem Open last week after a number of bookmakers suspended betting on the match.

Dolgopolov was initially the strong favourite but the odds swung dramatically in Monteiro’s favour prior to the match and the Brazilian, ranked 114 to his opponent’s 63, went on to win 6-3 6-3.

Reports immediately began to surface questioning the validity of the result and, asked for his reaction, Dolgopolov said: “You want my honest answer? I don’t give a f*** to be honest because it’s like a circus.

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“I think I should be asking you guys how you feel about your fellow journalists writing about maybe there’s a fix in the match because there is a market.

“I don’t want to even talk about it. I talked to the TIU, I respect their work, I gave all the information needed. At the end of the day, what’s going to happen is I’m not involved in anything.

“That’s going to be what happens and these guys are still going to write that bull***t. For me, writing those things before there is an investigation is silly.”

Dolgopolov insisted he was trying to win the match against Monteiro.

“I was giving my best effort,” he said. “I wasn’t playing my best.

“I was doing a lot of practice before because I wasn’t feeling good with (Nick) Kyrgios in Cincinnati. I was physically weak. I blacked out in that match, I wasn’t happy with my physical condition and I knew by New York I needed to get some work done.”

Alexandr Dolgopolov during his first round US Open win.

Dolgopolov, who defeated Jan-Lennard Struff in five sets in his opening match at the US Open on Wednesday, does have confidence in the TIU investigation.

“I think so,” he said. “They gather quite personal information and I think if you do something they find it.” It is not the first time Dolgopolov has been questioned by the TIU over a suspicious match having previously been contacted, and eventually exonerated, in 2011.

Originally published as Angry Dolgopolov hits back at match fixing allegations