Simona Halep returns to the tennis court after a year and a half break, and her first opponent is Paula Badosa. The first round match with Miami (tournament in the “WTA 1000” category) will start around 22:00 (Romanian time) and will be broadcast in LiveBLOG format on HotNews.ro.

Simona HalepPhoto: SMG / Zuma Press / Profimedia
  • The match can be watched live on DigiSport 1.

Simona Halep – Paula Bados in the first round of the WTA in Miami

The match between Halep and Badosa will start after the match between Caroline Wozniacki and Clara Burrell. The Dane won the first set 6-1.

Before the match with Badosa, Halep made several posts on Instagram. First, he shared a quote from Steve Jobs (“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition! They already know what you want to be. Everything else doesn’t matter”), and then posted a photo of himself with Sabin Topala (physiotherapist) and Portugal’s Joao Monteiro (sparring -partner).

For Simona, the pause is over, the TAS decision to reduce the punishment for the doping scandal (from 4 years to 9 months) helped the ex-WTA leader to return to sports competitions.

Former world No. 2 Paula Bados, meanwhile, has dropped to 80th in the world rankings due to numerous injuries that have kept her from reaching the level of previous years.

The Spaniard has three titles to his credit: Indian Wells (2021), Belgrade (2021) and Sydney (2022).

The winner of the match between Halep and Bados should play Aryna Sabalenko (2 WTA) in the second round. It is not yet known whether the Belarusian athlete will participate in the tournament in Florida, given that she is going through very difficult times after the death of her lover. The Tennis Channel reports that the world number two has decided to play in Miami, but does not want to participate in press conferences.

>> WTA Miami: Ana Bohdan leaves the tournament after the first round

Simona Halep – Paula Badosa, 2-0 in straight matches

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).

>> Simona Halep returns to Romania’s Billie Jean King Cup team

About the doping case of Simona Halep

  • 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.
  • TAS reduced Simona Halep’s sentence from 4 years to 9 months.
  • On August 29, 2022, Simona Halep played her last official match on the world circuit. At the US Open, in the inaugural round, our athlete unexpectedly defeated Daria Snigur (at that time, 124th place in the WTA, based on the qualification).

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