MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep returned to professional tennis after getting her doping suspension reduced on appeal, playing her first match in about 1 1/2 years on Tuesday — a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 loss to Paula Badosa at the Miami Open.
Halep looked terrific in the first set, then encountered trouble later, including having a trainer massage her right shoulder during a changeover late in the second. She was broken at love in the final game, each point ending with an errant groundstroke: backhand wide, backhand into the net, backhand long, forehand wide.
The 32-year-old from Romania, who reached No. 1 in the WTA rankings in 2017, smiled briefly and waved to spectators as she walked off the court Tuesday evening. The score might not have been what she wanted, but she was back competing.
“I would rate it as a special day, honestly,
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