Integrity unit to investigate 3 Italians for match-fixing

LONDON (AP) - Three Italian players will be investigated by world tennis' anti-corruption unit after they were suspended by their national federation for match-fixing.

The 143rd-ranked Marco Cecchinato and his lower-ranked compatriots Riccardo Accardi and Antonio Campo were banned for up to 18 months by the Italian federation this week for allegedly influencing the outcome of matches.

In an email to The Associated Press on Thursday, the International Tennis Federation said the Tennis Integrity Unit has asked the Italian federation to provide it with the evidence on which the sanctions were imposed.

"Once this evidence has been received and passed through the standard TIU investigative process, a decision will be made as to whether to charge (the three players) with a corruption offense under the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme," the ITF said.

The Italian federation suspended Cecchinato until January 2018 and fined him 40,000 euros ($44,000) for allegedly losing on purpose during a Challenger event in Mohammedia, Morocco, in October 2015. He was beaten in the quarterfinals by Kamil Majchrzak of Poland 6-1, 6-4.

Last weekend, Cecchinato was part of the Italian Davis Cup team that lost 3-1 to Argentina though he didn't play in the tie.

Accardi and Campo, who don't compete on the ATP tour, were banned for 12 and four months, respectively, for several alleged attempts to fix matches.