Professional tennis player Alessio Di Mauro has been suspended from the ATP Tour for nine months and fined $60,000 for betting on matches. Investigators found that Italian Di Mauro, ranked 124th in the world, had wagered on matches of other players, but hadn't attempted to bet on his own matches.

He is the first player to be charged under the tennis organisation's new anti-corruption policy, and is believed to have bet on over 120 matches.

In a statement, the tour's administrator for rules and competition Gayle David Bradshaw said "This ruling underlines the ATP's stated policy of not tolerating players, associates or staff gambling on tennis.''

The Italian Tennis Federation called the penalty too severe for a player who had not attempted to throw matches, while Di Mauro's agent said that they would appeal the penalty in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

In further news, lawyers representing Nikolay Davydenko, the Russian player at the centre of the original match-fixing allegations, declared that the world number four was 'truly innocent'. He also said that Davydenko could not be forced to give the ATP his telephone records calling the suggestion unreasonable.