ATP Tour officials are investigating 4th-ranked Russian tennis star Nikolay Davydenko's loss to 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello in the Prokom Open on Thursday:

In an unprecedented move Friday, British online gambling company Betfair voided all bets placed on the match, saying the market wasn't fair. Betfair said it received about $7 million in bets on the match — 10 times the usual amount — and most of the money was on Arguello to win, even after Davydenko won the first set 6-2 . . . Arguello won the second set 6-3 and was leading 2-1 in the third when Davydenko retired, saying he had aggravated a left foot injury in the second set.

People really bet on tennis?  Don't they have more exciting pastimes on which to wager, like cockroach races and thumb-wrestling matches?  Anyway, if a Russian is implicated in a gambling scandal, I'm sure the Russian mob is involved somehow.  From what I heard via a steel hauler at a truck stop bathroom (don't ask), they control everything in the former USSR from the music industry to hijacking trains.  And I saw this show on the History Channel where they bought a Soviet submarine to smuggle drugs, which is utterly ridiculous.  And by "utterly ridiculous", I mean "totally fucking awesome". -KD

(Spasiba to Foul Balls for the tip.)