Luzzi found guilty of betting on tennis, suspended 200 days, fined $50K

LONDON -- Italian player Federico Luzzi was found guilty of betting on tennis -- including his own match -- and suspended for 200 days and fined $50,000 by the ATP on Friday.

"An ATP investigation, launched in August 2007, found that Mr. Luzzi had wagered 273 times on 836 tennis matches between May 2004 and April 2007," the ATP said in a statement. "Of these 273 bets, one was $4.50 bet, placed on himself to win."

The governing body of men's tennis did not say which match Luzzi bet on himself. The ATP and an anti-corruption hearing officer found "no evidence" that the 28-year-old from Arezzo tried to influence the results of matches he bet on.

Luzzi is ranked 139th, with a career-high of 92 in 2002, and has an 18-31 career singles record on the main tour.

He's the fifth Italian to be found guilty of gambling on matches.

Giorgio Galimberti was found guilty on Feb. 18 of betting on tennis and was suspended for 100 days and fined $35,000.

The ATP said Galimberti bet on tennis from June 2003 to January 2006, but did not specify if he bet on his own matches.

Late last year, Potito Starace, Daniele Bracciali and Alessio Di Mauro were found guilty of gambling on matches involving other players.

Starace was suspended in December for six weeks and fined $30,000, while Bracciali was banned for three months and fined $20,000. Di Mauro was given a nine-month suspension in November and fined $60,000.

Tennis has been hounded by match-fixing rumors since online betting exchange Betfair, in an unprecedented move, voided bets on a match in Poland last year after fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko withdrew against 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello in the third set because of a foot injury.