London, June 25 : Hitting out against players involved in match-fixing, tennis star Roger Federer has called for severe penalties for any player involved in the scandal.

After his 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Federer urged the sport's governing bodies to show no mercy if any cheating of the system can be proven.

"We should have massive bans on those who get caught so they get really scared of doing it," he said.

Federer was speaking after it emerged that on-line bookmaker Betfair alerted the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) after 700,000 pounds was gambled on the first-round contest in which Austrian No. 26 seed Jurgen Melzer beat American Wayne Odesnik by three sets to love.

Some bookmakers suspended betting on the match as the wagers flooded in. Federer said: "We don't talk about it in the locker room. But it has happened more frequently than we talk about it.

"If it's happening or not, we are suspecting. We're not sure. But, of course, it has no place in tennis.

"It's hard to control. But I'm sure with the ATP [Association of Tennis Professionals] and the ITF [International Tennis Federation], we're trying our best to catch those guys - if there are any out there."

World No. 2 Federer was also asked whether it would be difficult to control a flow of information reaching bookmakers, the Daily Express reported.

"I don't know. I've never been approached. I never knew it existed until a few years ago when all of a sudden I heard about it. So I've been shocked to hear it," he said. (ANI)