International

The Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova has had her two year doping ban reduced to 15 months on appeal, allowing her to return to the sport in time for next year’s French Open.

Sharapova’s initial two-year ban was imposed in June but was deemed to have started on 26 January 2016, the day she failed a test for the then recently banned drug meldonium after losing to Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. Its reduction to 15 months will mean she can compete once again after midnight on 25 April.