SPANISH POLICE HAVE arrested 83 people, including 28 professional tennis players, and “dismantled” an organised crime group following an investigation into alleged match-fixing.

A player who competed in last year’s US Open is among those to have been investigated, in a probe which was triggered when the Tennis Integrity Unit denounced irregular activities related to lower-tier ITF Futures and Challenger matches.

Fifteen of the 83 people involved, “including the heads of the organisation”, were detained, Spain’s Civil Guard revealed in a statement.

Europol has alleged that a group of Armenians used one unnamed professional player as a link between them and the rest of the group.

Individuals allegedly used the identities of thousands of citizens to bet on matches, having bribed professional players to guarantee predetermined results.

Eleven houses were searched in Spain, with €167,000 of cash seized along with a shotgun, 50 electronic devices, credit cards, five luxury vehicles and documentation related to the case.

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