The former women’s tennis number one Simona Halep (Romania) played her first official match in 19 months after being sidelined for doping. The Romanian received a “wild card” for the WTA 1000 Miami Open tournament but was eliminated in the first round after losing by 2-1 (6:1, 4:6, 3:6) to Paula Badosa (Spain).
Simona Halep started impressively and dropped just one game to her opponent in the first set, but then felt that she was not yet in optimal physical shape and was hampered by pain in her right shoulder.
The world’s No 80, Paula Badosa, missed much of last season due to injury and has been inconsistent in her performances since the start of the year. She had no answer to Simona Halep’s aggressive game at the beginning, but she gradually found the right rhythm.
At 4:5 in the second set, the Romanian asked for a medical timeout because of the pain in her shoulder, which prevented her from serving with maximum power. She remained on the court but was no longer an equal opponent to Paula Badosa and was unable to mark her return with a victory.
Simona Halep finished the match with 5 aces, 10 double faults, and 72% first serve points won.
In the second round, Paula Badosa will face her good friend and second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who decided still to participate in the WTA 1000 Miami Open, despite the death of her friend Konstantin Koltsov.
Aryna Sabalenka will not hold press conferences in Miami, but fans filmed her on the practice courts hours after Konstantin Koltsov’s death was revealed.
“I don’t feel like talking about it much, but of course, she is a close friend of mine and we talked for a long time yesterday. I don’t want her to suffer, and the situation is very difficult. It’s not easy for me either and it will definitely be very difficult to face her on the court”, commented Paula Badosa.