Simona Halep’s confirmation that she is returning to the circuit sooner than expected was welcome news to Chris Evert.
It’s been a tremendously long road for former world number one Simona Halep after an ongoing doping saga took a more positive turn at the beginning of the year.
In October 2022, it was announced that Halep had tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat a month earlier. With an immediate suspension, Halep received a four-year ban from tennis.
However, in February this year, Halep’s insistence that her positive test was caused by contamination was finally considered to be true.
After this successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), she returned to the tour with a wildcard appearance at the Miami Open where she lost to Paula Badosa.
The Romanian was then forced to withdraw from the Madrid Open due to a knee injury, before also retiring injured in her opening round match at the WTA-125 Trophée Clarins event in May.
Chris Evert reacts to ‘great’ Simona Halep news
Shared on X, the 24-time WTA title winner released a video confirming that she was feeling better and had received a wildcard for the Hong Kong Open.
She said: “I figured today was a great day to share the great news that I will be on court sooner than expected.
“I will be flying to Hong Kong tomorrow to compete in the WTA 125 Hong Kong Open. Big thanks to the tournament for the wildcard and I can’t wait to see you all there.”
With the Romanian’s last title coming mere weeks before she tested positive at Flushing Meadows, Halep was forced to put her career on hold while ranked ninth int the world.
A popular player on the tour, the recent news was received fondly by America’s Chris Evert, who immediately shared her excitement at the news.
She wrote: “So happy to see you back, Simona!!!!” along with multiple heart emojis.
Halep is currently outside the top 1000 in the WTA Rankings and most rely on not only some more wildcards, but Alsop a quick return to form if she is to quickly reinstate herself at the top.
Simona Halep joins top seed Emma Navarro at the Hong Kong Open
After Emma Navarro was dumped out of Beijing my China’s own Shuai Zhang – who’s just recently stemmed a 24-match losing streak – she was left with a bit more time on her hands than expected.
The world number eight has therefore surprisingly elected to play in the 125 event and ultimately received a wildcard and the top seeding.
Hong Kong will be the third WTA 125 event the US Open semi-finalist has played this season and faces Victoria Golubic in the first round.
Halep faces Australian and world number 114 Arina Rodionova in her first match since May.
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