A Wimbledon tennis match is to be investigated over fears that a leading player deliberately lost in order to win thousands of pounds in bets, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

The men’s match was the subject of “suspect betting activity”, which made a gambling watchdog suspicious that the result could have been fixed.

The inquiries into the Wimbledon match and 44 others will take place later this year after the appointment of a new “Integrity Unit” to police the sport.

The short list for the head of the unit will be drawn up by tennis’s ruling bodies over the two-week Wimbledon tournament, which starts on Monday.

The move follows the publication of a report by two former Scotland Yard officers, which said that 45 matches from the past five years should come under “further review” because of suspicions that some results may have been fixed.

A source close to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has disclosed for the first time that a Wimbledon match believed to have been played two years ago will be examined.

“There might be an innocent explanation — a genuine tennis reason for what happened on court. But they (the authors of the report) do believe that this and other matches should come under further scrutiny.”

This year’s tournament is being held amid unprecedented scrutiny to prevent attempts by players to “throw” matches for financial gain, linked to gambling.

Andy Murray, the British No.1 and Tim Henman, the former No.1, who retired last year, have both expressed concerns that some players are open to corruption.

“Everyone knows it (match fixing) goes on,” said Murray, who is not under suspicion.

The ITF and other ruling bodies have indicated that they intend to introduce the 15 recommendations of the two former police officers aimed at creating “a more focused anti-corruption culture for professional tennis”, which includes setting up the new Integrity Unit.

Singles’ tennis, along with snooker and boxing is one of the easiest sports to fix a result because it involves just two players and the margin between hitting a winning or losing shot is so small.

The unusual betting patterns which usually involve an inexplicable rush by well-informed gamblers to place large bets on the less fancied player were identified by Betfair, the betting “exchange”, which allows gamblers to bet against each other in return for a small commission.

Last month’s report by Ben Gunn and Jeff Rees, Contemporary Review of Integrity in Professional Tennis, said: “We do not doubt that criminal elements may be involved in seeking to subvert or corrupt some players/officials and that may even involve organised criminal gangs.”

There are 27 Betfair accounts belonging to big and successful punters, which have concerned investigators. The report also said: “The betting patterns give a strong indication that those account holders are in receipt of ‘inside information’, which has facilitated successful betting coups both on ‘in play’ (bets wagered after the start of a sporting event) as well as ‘match’ betting.”

However, the report also concluded that professional tennis “is not institutionally or systematically corrupt”.

Observers say it is unthinkable that the top seeds such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic would risk their multi-million pound careers by becoming involved in corruption.

However, lower-ranked players, who tour the world struggling to meet even their expenses from earnings are more susceptible to being bribed.

Players nearing the ends of their careers or disillusioned with the sport along with those who have lost sponsorship deals are also considered vulnerable.

Djokovic was offered £110,000 to lose a match at a tournament in St Petersburg in 2006. The Serb, now the world No.3 immediately rejected the deal and ended up not playing in the tournament.

Betfair, which expects to match nearly £500 million in bets on the tournament, has signed an agreement with tennis’s ruling bodies in an attempt to combat corruption.