ITIA suspends five players for corruption breaches linked to Belgian crime ring
Match-fixing incidents took place between 2017 and 2018, with a cumulative $125,000 dished out in fines along with lengthy bans to Latin American quintet
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has suspended five players for breaches of the Tennis Anti-Corruption Programme related to a Belgian match-fixing syndicate.
All charges refer to matches played between 2017 and 2018, whereby players altered the outcome of matches, facilitated betting, accepted money in exchange for underperforming and failed to report corrupt approaches.
The sanctions in question have ties to a criminal case from 2023 involving a Belgian match-fixing syndicate.
The ITIA and Belgian authorities worked together to smash the group, which resulted in a five-year custodial sentence for the syndicate’s leader, Grigor Sargsyan.
The tennis players sanctioned in the ITIA’s latest intervention all admitted to the breaches and accepted their individual sentences.
All five players also, as a result, waived their right to hearing in front of an independent anti-corruption hearing officer.
Ecuador’s Iván Endara, and Mexican players Mauricio Reséndiz Domínguez, Raúl Isaías Rosas-Zarur, Ivar Aramburu Contreras and Aitor Aramburu Contreras were all handed fines and bans varying in severity.
Endara, who peaked at number 367 in the singles rankings in 2015, was suspended for five years, effective from 26 July 2024, and fined $15,000.
Domínguez and Rosas-Zarur also received five-year suspensions, starting in July 2024, and $15,000 fines. They peaked at number 1,305 and 1,425 in the singles rankings, respectively.
Ivar Aramburu Contreras was given a 26-month suspension spanning from January 2024 to March 2026. The former world number 1,244 was fined $44,000, $30,800 of which is suspended.
His brother Aitor, whose career-high singles ranking was number 1,663, was handed a one-year and 10-month suspension active from February 2024 and December 2025. He received a $36,000 fine, of which $25,200 is suspended.
An ITIA statement read: “During their periods of ineligibility, the players are prohibited from playing in, coaching at, or attending any tennis event authorised or sanctioned by the members of the ITIA (ATP, ITF, WTA, Tennis Australia, Fédération Française de Tennis, Wimbledon and USTA) or any national association.
“The ITIA is an independent body established by its tennis members to promote, encourage, enhance and safeguard the integrity of professional tennis worldwide.”
In July, the ITIA announced it had received 19 suspicious betting activity alerts across various tennis matches between April and June, with the majority coming from the W15 Women’s World Tennis Tour.