TENNIS: Bulgarian teenager Sesil Karatantcheva has been banned for two years for doping, the ITF announced yesterday.

The ban rules her out of tennis until January 1st, 2008. An independent anti-doping tribunal ruled that samples provided by the 16-year-old at the French Open last May, and out of competition in Tokyo in July, had tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone.

The three-man tribunal heard the case over two days in London last month and rejected Karatantcheva's defence. French daily sports paper L'Equipe said at the time she had explained the high level of nandrolone by saying she was pregnant. She said she then had a miscarriage.

A pregnancy test carried out by a French lab on the player's urine sample was negative, the paper said.

The Bulgarian, now ranked 41 in the world, reached the quarter-finals at last year's French Open when she was aged 15, beating Venus Williams on the way.

Karatantcheva must forfeit prize money of 110,000 from Roland Garros and has three weeks to decide whether to appeal.

Last month Argentina's Mariano Puerta was banned for a record eight years after testing positive for the banned stimulant etilefrine following his 2005 French Open men's final defeat by Spain's Rafael Nadal.

Germany's Tommy Haas upset world number one Roger Federer 3-6 6-4 6-4 at the invitational Kooyong Classic in Melbourne yesterday. The loss means the Swiss will be unable to defend his title at the eight-man event. But neither Federer or world number three, Andy Roddick, believe the defeat will affect Federer's chances at the Australian Open, which starts next week. "I wouldn't read too much into it," Roddick said after accounting for French teenager Gael Monfils 6-2 6-2.

Federer appeared to struggle with his timing, hitting several forehands either long or wide, while Haas scrambled for every point, producing a string of spectacular passing shots.

World number five David Nalbandian cut short his preparations for the year's opening grand slam in Melbourne by retiring with an upset stomach while trailing Germany's Nicolas Kiefer 6-3 3-2. The 24-year-old Argentine said he would attempt to play his remaining two matches in the tournament. Argentina's Guillermo Coria was the other winner, 6-2 6-2, over Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic.

Lleyton Hewitt shook off a mystery illness to reach the quarter-finals of the Sydney International yesterday while injuries piled up ahead of next week's Australian Open. Kim Clijsters, Carlos Moya and Nadia Petrova withdrew from the Australian Open lead-up tournament because of injuries while Daniela Hantuchova retired from her match.

Clijsters's injury appears to be the most serious. The Belgian world number two felt a sharp pain in her hip while warming up to play Italy's Francesca Schiavone and is now in danger of missing the first grand slam of the year.

Spain's Moya also pulled out of his match with American James Blake because of a hip complaint while Russian Petrova withdrew from her match with Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne with a groin strain.

Slovak Hantuchova failed to finish her match against Czech Nicole Vaidisova while Hewitt ignored a stomach bug to beat Austria's Jurgen Melzer 6-1 6-4 and now advances to a quarter-final with Andreas Seppi after the Italian beat Australian wildcard Chris Guccione 7-5 7-6.

Russia's former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova was also in great form, defeating Serb Ana Ivanovic 7-6 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the women's tournament where she will play Henin-Hardenne. Eighth seed James Blake will play Frenchman Arnaud Clement in today's quarter-finals while Igor Andreev faces fellow Russian Dmitry Tursonov.

Clement beat Argentine Juan Monaco 7-6 6-3, Tursunov defeated Australian hardcourt champion Florent Serra 7-6 6-2 and Andreev survived a gruelling battle with Australian Peter Luczak 6-7 7-6 7-6.

There are two seeds left in the bottom half of the men's draw with Nikolay Davydenko the biggest danger after the second seeded Russian disposed of Argentina's Agustin Calleri 6-4 7-6.

British teenager Andy Murray blew a second set lead to lose 6-3 7-6 to Croatia's Mario Ancic in the second round of the Auckland Open yesterday.