Puerta denies taking drugs

Argentina's Mariano Puerta denied a report yesterday that he had taken a banned drug and tested positive at this year's French Open where he reached the singles final.

"I'm really angry, I've started investigations with my lawyers. This is a very delicate subject, there's no truth in it," said Puerta, who faces a life ban if guilty after failing a doping test two years ago.

Puerta, ranked 10th in the world, had just won his second round match in the tournament in Tokyo 6-3 6-4 against Eric Taino of the US. He is pushing for a place in the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.

He said it came like a bombshell when Reuters told him of the report in the French sports newspaper L'Equipe. Traces of a stimulant called etilefrine were found in a urine sample from Puerta taken after his French Open final defeat by Spain's Rafael Nadal, L'Equipe said.