BY GRAHAM DUNBAR
GENEVA (AP) — Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep was cleared for an immediate return to tennis on Tuesday after sports’ highest court accepted she was not entirely at fault for her positive doping test at the 2022 U.S. Open.
On court, the former top-ranked Halep beat Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final of 2019, one year after winning the French Open.
In court, Halep has a legal victory that ends a four-year ban in a case that threatened to be just as career-defining had the verdict gone against her.
Instead, the Court of Arbitration for Sport lifted the allegation of suspected doping cheat from the 32-year-old Romanian whose career has been on hold for more than a year.
Three CAS judges ruled Halep had “on the balance of probabilities” showed her positive test for a banned blood-boosting substance was unintentional and caused by a contaminated supplement.
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