Santoro rejects claim Djokovic threw match

The Serbian reigning Australian Open champion described the current speculation as “absurd” and said it needs to stop unless someone can provide concrete evidence the allegations are true.

The English newspaper The Telegraph reports that Parliament plans to announce hearings into the match-fixing scandal that has rocked the tennis world and cast a shadow over the ongoing Australian Open.

Federer was among the first to demand more information: “I would love to hear names”, the Swiss star said Monday at a postmatch news conference. “There’s no real proof or evidence yet of any active players (being involved in match-fixing), for that matter”.

Italian newspaper Tuttosport published a story with a headline suggesting that he “wanted” to lose a match at the 2007 Paris Indoor Masters, where he unexpectedly went down 6-3, 6-2 to French veteran Fabrice Santoro.

“What it is to say?” At Melbourne Park, he has lost only one match in the previous five tournaments. “I think he deserves a lot of respect for the amount of years that he spent in top 30”, Djokovic said about playing Seppi.

“Anybody can create a (false) story about any match, that’s my point”.

‘I think it’s not supported by any kind of proof, any evidence, any facts.

“Quentin is new on the tour but definitely today he hasn’t been playing like he’s been just on the tour for under a year”, Djokovic said.

Wawrinka said: “I’m sure corruption and problems for a gambling website or gambling company, it’s not good”. You don’t want these kind of subjects or speculations going around.

“Hopefully because the world is watching, something will be done about it. We need to flag who these players were”, said Fernandez, a three-time Grand Slam finalist and victor of two Olympic gold medals. “I think it’s a bit odd”.

Williams’ next opponent will be 18-year-old Russian Daria Kasatkina, who beat Croatia’s Ana Konjuh 6-4, 6-3, and she faces a potential quarterfinal match against Maria Sharapova, which would be a rematch of the 2015 final.

Murray said he felt sorry for innocent players being accused of match-fixing but believes more accountability is the only way to root out corruption.

After Fernando Verdasco on Tuesday, Wednesday night brought the turn of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

“I think that certain media is just trying to create a story out of it without any proof”. Chinese qualifier Wang Qiang lost to Germany’s Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-3, 6-4, two days after her upset win over American Sloane Stephens. Since then, the reports said, the ATP has repeatedly been warned by bookmakers, foreign police and other investigators about numerous same players, but hasn’t taken any action against them.

Djokovic is just one of the top names being mentioned in the reports, as many scramble to try to pin down the names that the BBC and Buzzfeed refused to reveal.

“This is where I played my first Grand Slam right on this court and I’m still going, it’s such an honour”, said Williams, who is going for her seventh title here. “To come back here and play my first match on Rod Laver is always very special as you always get those first little jitters out of the way”.