KEY POINTS:
An Italian player who was to have been seeded at next month's international Open in Auckland has been banned for six weeks for betting offences.
And Heineken Open boss Graham Pearce says players need to be aware that rules are being tightened to guard against players gambling on
matches, irrespective of whether they are involved.
Potito Starace, the world No 31, would have been seeded No 8 at the Open, which starts on January 7 at the ASB Tennis Centre and has US$464,000 ($606,843) prizemoney.
However he and countryman Daniele Bracciali have been banned by the Association of Tennis Professionals. Starace, who received a €20,800 ($40,000) fine as well as the six-week ban, was pinged for making five bets totalling €90 ($170) two years ago. Bracciali, world No 258, made five bets of €5 each over 2004-05 and received a three-month ban and €14,000 fine.
Another Italian, Alessio Di Mauro, became the first player to cop a fine under the new ATP anti-corruption rules last month when he was banned for nine months, also for betting on matches.
The Italian federation maintains the punishments are "an injustice. These penalties are absolutely excessively severe compared to the magnitude of the violations carried out by the two players".
It said the pair did not know of the ATP's betting regulations and stopped betting when they did.
Starace and Bracciali claim they are scapegoats for a larger match-fixing scandal.
"It's disgusting," said Starace. "The ATP doesn't know where to turn. It's all a joke."
But Pearce had little sympathy for Starace's plight yesterday.
"I'd rather have him here, but rules are rules," Pearce said.
"They need to understand the rules are serious. It means what it says, ie, don't bet on the sport if you're involved in it, then there's no issue."
Starace, a tall, 26-year-old claycourter with a booming top spin forehand, played in the Open in 2005, reaching the quarter-finals.
He won two doubles titles this year, at Kitzbuhel and Acapulco and made two singles finals, at Kitzbuhel and Valencia.
No laptops will be allowed in the stands at the Auckland tournament next month, other than for tournament personnel or media, as part of ATP rules which start on January 1.
Anti-corruption rules allow for punishments for offending players up to lifetime bans.
Players must report approaches to tournament officials within 48 hours. That also applies to players who suspect others have been approached or are involved in breaking the gambling rules.
Several players have claimed to have been approached about throwing matches or hearing of similar approaches. All have claimed to have rejected the offers.
Pearce, who is a member of the ATP board, said there were limits on watching the players' movements.
"No one's sitting round watching what the players are doing. They've got to have some privacy but the rules are pretty draconian."
The Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne the week after the Open, has tough regulations in place, the result of a joint operation between Tennis Australia and Victoria police.
The ATP is still investigating the highest-profile suspicious game, which happened in August in Poland.
World No 4 Russian Nikolay Davydenko lost to No 74 Argentine Martin Vasallo Arguello in a second-round game, 6-2, 3-6, 1-2, retiring in the third set.
Betting was suspended during the game due to irregular patterns emerging. Davydenko denies wrongdoing.