Fix set, not match and walk away without conviction

Former Australian junior champ fined for losing throwing first set on friend’s request

SYDNEY: Former Australian Open junior champion Oliver Anderson was fined Aus$500 Tuesday for fixing a match, but escaped a conviction after admitting he threw a set, reports said.

The 19-year-old Australian appeared in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court over the incident during a first-round clash at the second-tier Traralgon Challenger event in Victoria in 2016.

He admitted a charge of corrupting the outcome of a sporting event.

The court heard Anderson, the 2016 Australian Open junior winner, was approached a few days before the match by a friend who asked if he would drop the first set, broadcaster ABC reported.

He agreed when he realised he could easily beat his first round opponent Harrison Lombe, some 900 spots below him in the rankings.

He lost the first set 4-6, before taking the next two sets 6-0, 6-2 to win the match.

Police were alerted to suspicious activity by betting company Crownbet after a punter tried to wager Aus$10,000 on the match, ABC said. It was rejected although a lower Aus$2,000 bet was accepted.

In addition to the fine, Anderson was placed on a two-year good-behaviour bond but no conviction was recorded.

News of the match-fixing charge surfaced just days before this year's Australian Open, with leading players at the time voicing frustration at another scandal hitting the sport.

On the eve of the Australian Open in 2016, there were bombshell media allegations that match-fixing was rife in tennis and the authorities had done little to counter corruption.