Romanian tennis player Simona Halep clinched her first win since returning to court after a doping ban. The former world’s number one defeated Arina Rodionova (Australia) by 2-1 (6:2, 4:6, 6:4) in the first round of the WTA 125 Hong Kong 125 Open. The match lasted 2:08 hours and was not easy at all for the Romanian tennis player.
Simona Halep started the match with an early break and achieved another one in the first set to win it at 6:2. The second set ran in totally different way after Arina Rodionova took a lead of 3:0. Simona Halep succeeded to equalize to 4:4 after returning the break, but her opponent broke again in the 10th game to close the set at 6:4 and equalize the score. The third decisive set gave total of five breaks, which were in favor of Simona Halep, who clinched her first professional win after returning on the court.
In the second round, the Romanian tennis player will play against the seventh-seeded Anna Blinkova (Russia).
Simona Halep played in two tournaments in May after her ban was reduced from four years to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAC) in Lausanne. However, she failed to win a match in the first tournament and withdrew from the second due to a knee injury that has kept her out of play.
In the other matches from the WTA 125 Hong Kong 125 Open, Suzan Lamens (Netherlands) defeated Anna Bondar (Hungary) by 2-1 (3:6, 7:5, 6:1), the top-seeded Emma Navarro (USA) eliminated Viktorija Golubic (Switzerland) after 2-0 (7:5, 6:4), Clara Tauson (Denmark) won her match versus Martina Trevisan (Italy) by 2-0 (6:3, 7:5), and Dalma Galfi (Hungary) defeated Jessie Aney (USA) by 2-0 (6:1, 6:4).
