ROME, Italy -- Italian tennis players Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali have been banned by the ATP for betting on matches.



Top Italian player Potito Starace has been suspended for six weeks for betting on matches.



The country's top player Starace -- 31st in the ATP rankings -- has been suspended for six weeks from January 1 and fined $30,000 (20,890 euros) for making five bets totalling around 90 euros two years ago.



Bracciali, world ranked 258, has been banned for three months and fined $20,000 (13,930 euros) for making around 50 five-euro bets between 2004 and 2005.



The Italian Tennis Federation (FIT) confirmed the news on its website, www.federtennis.it. However, they denounced the penalties as disproportionate, saying the players never bet on their own matches.



"Injustice is done," the statement said. "These penalties are absolutely, excessively severe compared to the magnitude of the violations carried out by the two players."



The federation said the two were not aware of the ATP's betting regulations, and that they stopped placing the bets as soon as they learned it was against the rules.



Another Italian player, Alessio Di Mauro, became the first player sanctioned under the ATP's new anti-corruption rules when he received a nine-month ban in November, also for betting on matches.



Starace and Bracciali said they were scapegoats for a larger match-fixing scandal."It's disgusting," said the 26-year-old Starace. "The ATP doesn't know where to turn. It's all a joke."



Bracciali said the two had been "sacrificed."



"That's why they came after us," the 29-year-old said. "We are not champions and we don't count in the upper echelons."



ATP officials could not be reached for comment on Saturday.



Concerns about match-fixing have risen since August, when an online betting company reported unusual betting patterns during a match between fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina. The company, Betfair, voided all bets and the ATP has been investigating.



Davydenko, who retired while trailing in the third set, denies wrongdoing.



Since then, several players have said that they had been approached with offers to fix matches in exchange for money. E-mail to a friend
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