Simona Halep will return to the tennis court at the “WTA 1000” tournament in Miami after a break of one year and seven months. In the first round, the ex-world leader will have a match with Paula Badosa.

Simona Halep vs Paula Badoza in WTA Miami Open – first official match since August 2022

Simona, who received a wildcard, will return to the field after a year and a half absence, during which she was disqualified due to a doping scandal (she managed to reduce the period of disqualification at the Court of Arbitration for Sport from 4 years to 9 months).

In the first round, the former world leader will meet Paula Badosa (73 WTA).

Former world No. 2 Paula Bados, meanwhile, dropped to 73rd in the world rankings. The Spaniard has only three titles to her credit, won in Indian Wells (2021), Belgrade (2021) and Sydney (2022).

In the second round, the winner of Halep and Badosa will meet Aryna Sabalenko (2 WTA).

The games of the first round will take place on Tuesday, March 19, on the day when Simona Halep, the ex-leader of the world ranking, is also expected to enter the field.

Four players from Romania were directly admitted to the main draw by WTA Miami: Sorana Kirstia (22 WTA – 19th favorite – accepted directly to the second round), Ana Bohdan (65 WTA), Jacqueline Christian (82 WTA) and Simona Halep (unranked). .

The WTA 1000 Miami Open tournament will be held from March 19 to 31. Play will be played on hard surfaces, with 128 players in the main draw and a total prize pool of $8,995,555. The champion of the overall title is Petra Kvitova (she is pregnant and will not participate in this year’s edition).

>> WTA Miami: Four Romanians directly in the main draw – When Simona Halep debuts

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What you need to know about Simona Halep’s doping case

• The news that Simona Halep was temporarily suspended for doping appeared on Friday, October 21, 2022.

• Simona’s case was heard by Sport Resolutions, an independent tribunal in London that hears doping cases in white sport.

• Halep was suspended for 4 years for two separate violations of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP): the presence and use of the substance roxadustat in a urine sample collected after an anti-doping test conducted at the 2022 US Open (1) and a violation of her biological passport (2).

• Halep was heard at the CAS on February 7-9, 2024.

• The Swiss court said that the ex-leader of the WTA asked to cancel the decision of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and “reduce” its sanctions.

• On August 29, 2022, Simona Halep played her last official match on the world stage. At the US Open, in the inaugural round, our athlete unexpectedly defeated Daria Snigur (at that time, she took 124th place in the WTA ranking according to the qualification results).

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