An alleged email exchange between the tennis star Peng Shuai and top bookmakers is being probed by Chinese police, the Washington Post reported.
The woman in the case was allegedly Pagemui, an influential betting site that is known for paying out huge sums.
In the email exchange, to a particular bookmaker in Singapore, Pagemui CEO Miu Li wrote that she “had met” the 23-year-old player, and that she “wants to take advantage of the opportunity and get $50,000.”
“[Peng Shuai] promises the guy 50,000 on the phone and 150,000 on the website — the exact figure,” the bookmaker told the Post.
Tennis has been rocked by several match-fixing scandals over the years.
In a separate scandal, another Taiwanese player Chun Yung-Jan beat two-time Australian Open champ Li Na in a match-fixing and match-fixing investigation, China’s national news agency Xinhua said, according to the Washington Post.
A person who took part in the investigation reportedly told Xinhua that Chun put in a sham win during a singles match in April, using “faked and sick” tactics. The investigation also revealed an alleged scheme by Chun to throw a doubles match on April 18.
“This is Zhou who will complain [about his losses] in the future and as a result he will lose my friendship,” Chun allegedly wrote in one of the text messages, according to the report.
Meanwhile, world tennis No. 2 Andy Murray has emerged from a three-day rest following a quarterfinal loss to Djokovic in the Rome Masters to launch his week’s campaigning against Wawrinka, his title rival and the French Open winner.
He begins his campaign to regain the title in Montreal with no clear standout.
“Against an extremely talented player, the fact that I found a way to pull through the match… I feel that points down I was able to regroup,” he said, giving some clues as to what to expect.
“As the match went on, I felt stronger. And, at the end, that’s all you can ask, is a team of people behind you who are aware of what’s going on and what needs to be done, in terms of the tactics and the plan for the match. That’s what I had in Paris, that’s what I’ll have in Montreal.”