Former world No 1 Simona Halep will take on Spain’s Paula Badosa in her first match since her positive doping test at the 2022 US Open which led to a four-year ban which was earlier this month reduced to nine months and paved the way for the Romanian to return to the tour immediately.
Halep has taken a wild card into this week’s Miami Open and will face Badosa, who has been trying to gather steam on her own comeback from injury. The Spaniard is 3-4 for the season in 2024 but was not able to complete her matches in her last two tournaments, following which she also pulled out of Indian Wells two weeks ago.
Halep owns a 2-0 lead in head-to-head over Badosa and if she wins that first match, she will face Australian Open champion and world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who has a bye in the first round as one of the 32 seeded players in the draw. The Romanian leads Sabalenka 3-2 in head-to-head but none of those matches came before Sabalenka turned into a Grand Slam champion herself.
