LONDON (AP):

THE FOUR major organisations in professional tennis are joining together to keep corruption out of the sport.

Two months after the men's tour began a probe into gambling on a match, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said yesterday it is working with the ATP, the WTA Tour and the Grand Slam Committee to come up with a unified set of regulations to combat match-fixing and illegal betting.

"We have to keep the integrity of the matches," ITF spokesman Bill Babcock said. "I think we have that, but we have this looming cloud now that we have to dissipate."

Suspicions about match-fixing began after an online betting site, in an unprecedented move, voided bets on a match between fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko and 87th-ranked Martin Vassallo Arguello in Poland because of irregular betting patterns.

Davydenko withdrew from the August 2 match in the third set with a foot injury, and the ATP is conducting an investigation.

"Tennis is vulnerable," said Babcock.

Since the Davydenko match, other players have said they have been approached by outsiders trying to influence a tennis match. Last month, Gilles Elseneer of Belgium said he was offered - and turned down - more than US$100,000 to lose a first-round match against Potito Starace of Italy at Wimbledon in 2005.

Britain's Andy Murray, the world's 18th-ranked player, told the BBC yesterday that it was easy to throw a match.

"It's difficult to prove if someone has tanked a match or not tried because they can try their best until the last couple of games of each set and then make some mistakes, a couple of double faults, and that's it," Murray said.