British tennis player Evans banned 1 year in cocaine case

LONDON (AP) Davis Cup-winning tennis player Dan Evans will serve a one-year ban for testing positive for cocaine.

The International Tennis Federation says it accepts ''inadvertent contamination'' was responsible for the British player's positive test at the Barcelona Open in April.

Evans explained to an ITF panel he had used cocaine when not competing four days before the test.

He then put the drug in a washbag where he also kept an approved medication he took during the Barcelona tournament.

The ITF accepts that Evans' fingers or medication were contaminated by cocaine residue.

The 27-year-old Evans, who was in Britain's Davis Cup-winning squad in 2015, is banned though April 23, 2018.

He also forfeits 103,000 euros ($121,000) prize money and ranking points in events he played from late-April through June.