Paula Badosa and Simona Halep battled for two hours in the first round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami, and the Spaniard won in three sets with a score of 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. At the end of the match, the former world number two explained how important this victory was for her.

>> Simona Halep was defeated by Paula Badosa after returning to the WTA tournament – ​​an encouraging performance by the former world leader

Paula Badosa: “Simon Halep is a very tough player, especially mentally”

Badosa has been plagued by injuries in recent years and has reached as high as 80 in the WTA rankings, but the level was high against Halep (despite numerous unforced errors and serving problems from both players) and she says she could be the first step for her in her quest to return to the elite of women’s tennis.

“To be honest, yes (she was surprised by the level she showed and Halep was not). We didn’t play much, and the weather was not on our side, the wind was blowing. But I think we played pretty well, especially at the end of the match, there was a big fight.

I am glad for the victory, for me Simona is a very tough player, especially from a psychological point of view. I’ve played against her a few times and put up quite a fight, so this is a big win.

I suffered in the first set but I tried to stay positive. It’s not easy, to be honest, I’m not very confident right now, I haven’t played much lately, this injury has been really hard on me. I hope I can play more matches and become “that Paula” again, who is mentally strong. I hope it will happen soon and I will be back to the level I was before, but I know it will be very difficult, I will have to fight.

My back is fine, I take care of it 24/7, but now other parts of my body hurt, so I finished the match quite tired. I have a day off, it’s good, so I will recover and wait for the next match” – Paula Bados.

Find out after the match between Simona Halep and Paula Bados

• Simona Halep will receive a check for $23,250 and 10 points in the world singles ranking (she ranks 1140th in the Live hierarchy) for being in the main draw of WTA Miami.

• Paula Bados (80 WTA) should play in the second round. Aryna Sabalenko (2 WTA), if the player from Belarus does not decide to withdraw (after the death of her lover).

• This is Paula’s first victory over Simona. In the first meetings (both took place in 2022), the Romanian won: 6-3, 6-1 in Madrid and 6-1, 6-2 in Wimbledon.

• After Simona Halep and Ana Bohdan eliminated, Romania has only two representatives in Miami: Jacqueline Christian (first round – match with Diana Parry) and Sorana Kirstia (second round – match with Sloane Stephens or Angelique Kerber).

• Simona Halep played her last official match on August 29, 2022. At the US Open, in the inaugural round, our athlete unexpectedly defeated Daria Snigur (at that time she was ranked 124th in the WTA qualification ranking).

• 18 months of nightmare followed for the former WTA leader – she was banned 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. test conducted at the US Open 2022 (1) and irregularities in his biological passport (2). Halep appealed to the CAS, which reduced her sentence to 9 months.

The result of the match between Simona Halep and Paula Bados

Statistics of the match Simona Halep – Paula Bados

Aces: 5-5

Double faults: 10-6

Points played on the first serve: 63% – 60%

Points won on the first serve: 72% (43/60) – 78% (38/49)

Second serve points won: 31% (11/36) – 33% (11-33)

Winning shots: 18-35

Unforced errors: 39-53

Break points won: 80% (4/5) – 36% (4/11)

Total number of scored points: 87-92

Duration of the match: 1 hour 58 minutes.

Simona Halep – Paula Badosa, 2-1 in straight matches

2024, Miami: 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 for Badosa

2022, Wimbledon: 6-1, 6-2 for Halep

2022, Madrid: 6-3, 6-1 for Halep.

The WTA 1000 category tournament will be held in Miami from March 19 to 31. Played on hard surfaces, the main draw features 128 players 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).