Spanish tennis player Nuria Llagostera Vives has been banned for two years under anti-doping rules, the International Tennis Federation announced on Monday.

The 33-year-old tested positive for d-methamphetamine at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford earlier this year.

“An independent hearing was held, in which Ms Llagostera Vives was not able to demonstrate how the d-amphetamine entered her system,” an ITF statement said.

“She was, therefore, unable to satisfy the preconditions for mitigation.

“Ms Llagostera Vives’s commission of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation was, therefore, confirmed and it was determined that she is suspended from participation for a period of two years, commencing from 8 September 2013, the date on which she was provisionally suspended.”

Llagostera Vives reached a career-high singles ranking of 35 in 2005 but has played only doubles during the past two years.

She had been due to partner Italy’s Francesca Schiavone in Stanford but the duo withdrew prior to their first round match.

Janina Kean, president/CEO of High Watch Recovery Centre which tries to help people recover from substance abuse, said there were good reasons why tennis players might use ‘meth’.

“If the tests are accurate, it unfortunately makes sense that methamphetamines, an energy-enhancing substance, would be the drug of choice for Vives, the drug matches the sport,” Kean said in a statement.

“For example, you wouldn’t see an active tennis player using opiates like heroin, which slow you down.

“Methamphetamines would help sustain the long periods of high energy, which is ideal for the sport of tennis, and a positive result taking place during the tournament provides significant evidence that she was using it for that purpose,” she added.

The ITF’s latest doping verdict comes after both Marin Cilic and Viktor Troicki had their drugs bans reduced on appeal by the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.