US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has tested positive for a banned drug, Belgian sports minister Claude Eerdekens was quoted as saying yesterday.

Belga news agency reported Eerdekens as saying the Russian player tested positive for the stimulant ephedrine after an exhibition match in Charleroi on December 19.

Eerdekens named Kuznetsova, 19, after earlier saying one of the four women involved in the exhibition match had tested positive and Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne had been cleared.

That put the spotlight on the other three - Kuznetsova, fellow-Russian Elena Dementieva and Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy.

Rumours of the minister's initial remarks surfaced at the Australian Open in Melbourne earlier yesterday and Kuznetsova, ranked fifth in the world, denied ever taking drugs.

"I am not worried. I am definitely not using nothing to push myself up in the game," she said, adding she had been tested for drugs 11 times last year.

"I'm pretty sure that everybody's pretty clean because the anti-doping programme it doesn't allow us to take nothing."

The Women's Tennis Association and the International Tennis Federation said in Melbourne they had not been informed of any positive test.

Kuznetsova beat American Jessica Kirkland 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the Open yesterday.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.