Sara Errani has had her doping ban extended from two to 10 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The 2012 French Open finalist and former world number five was handed the original punishment in August 2017 after testing positive for prohibited substance letrozole during an out-of-competition test.
Errani admitted the anti-doping violation when a charge was brought by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), but her legal team argued at a personal hearing that she ingested the substance inadvertently through her mother's anti-cancer medication 'Femara' while staying at her parents' house.
She was consequently hit with a two-month suspension, which was served between August and October 2017, while results and prize money from February 16 to June 7 were disqualified.
The Italian national anti-doping agency (Nado Italia) and Errani, 31, both appealed against the decision made by the Independent Tribunal of the ITF, with the former asking for a punishment up to two years.
CAS has now dismissed Errani's appeal, while upholding Nado Italia's and extending the sanction to 10 months – the original two that have been served counting towards the punishment.
A CAS statement explained: "The Panel concluded that the Athlete's personal departure from the objective and subjective standards of care, expected to be exercised by her, together with her mother's fault which is imputed to her, amounted to a light degree of fault, however it its upper range, and determined that a period of ineligibility of 10 months is to be imposed on the athlete."
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