Tennis-Australian police arrest six over match-fixing

MELBOURNE, July 18 (Reuters) - Australian police have arrested six men over allegations they ran a gambling syndicate that benefited from knowledge about the fixing of tennis matches at state, national and international level. Friday's arrests around the state of Victoria, which hosts the opening grand slam event of the year at Melbourne Park each January, followed a probe by the Purana Task Force, which investigates organised crime in the state. "Detectives are investigating allegations that a number of bets were placed on tennis matches played in both Australia and overseas where the outcome was predetermined by at least one of the players involved," read a statement from Victoria police. "The men will be interviewed in relation to match fixing contrary to the Crimes Amendment (Integrity in Sports) Act 2013, including the use of corrupt conduct information for betting purposes." Under the act, anyone found guilty of match-fixing faces up to 10 years in prison. (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Greg Stutchbury)