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MOSCOW - Russia tennis player Anna Chakvetadze escaped unharmed after several men broke into her house in southwest Moscow early on Tuesday (local time), police said.
"Five to six unknown people wearing masks climbed over the fence of the country house at about 4am Moscow time, then broke into the house and tied her parents up," a police spokesman was quoted as saying by the Russian media.
"They took money and valuables worth some five million roubles (about $250,000)."
Her father Jamal appeared on Russian television, showing that no one was hurt. I was told Anna didn't even try to resist the robbers," Tarpishchev said.
Police later said they were looking for suspects but gave no details.
World number six Chakvetadze has won four singles titles this year, earning more than US$1.4 million ($1.87 million) in prize money.
This was the latest in a series of violent crimes against high-profile sports figures in Russia and other former Soviet republics in recent years.
Former world top 10 player Andrei Chesnokov was seriously wounded in a shooting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk in November 2005.
- REUTERS