Players Under the Microscope / Editor / 24 May 2007 /

Guillermo Canas' preparations for the French Open have been hit by the news that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld his 15-month doping ban.

The Argentinian has already served the suspension, between June 2005 and September 2006, but was hoping to clear his name ahead of the year's second Grand Slam in Paris.

The ban was imposed after the 29-year-old tested positive for the banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), despite protests from the player.

The South American said he had ingested the substance in error after receiving medication from a tournament doctor intended for another player's coach, but the authorities handed out the ban despite his plea.

CAS said it had reached the same conclusion as in its earlier verdict - that Canas had committed a doping offence - but agreed that he "took the medication he received with no review whatsoever of the contents of the box, even though he knew that the medication had been through several hands before being delivered to him".

The Buenos Aires-born right-hander fell out of the world's top 500 players during his time away from the court, but has shown solid form in recent weeks, beating world number one Roger Federer on two occasions, en route to reaching number 22 in the world rankings.

With the big two of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal dominating Betfair's market for the French Open, customers might want to look at the 'winner without the big two' market.

Canas trades at 14.5 in this market, with Novak Djokovic the 5.1 favourite, Fernando Gonzalez on offer at 9.8 and Nikolay Davydenko available at 10.5.

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