Simona Halep played her second WTA Tour-level match since returning to the tennis courts, but once again, it was a losing effort.
The 33-year-old Romanian player was extremely happy to be able to return to the sport. Only days after being cleared to compete, she accepted a wild card for the 2024 Miami Open.
In her first comeback match, Halep lost to Paula Badosa, but considering that the Spaniard has been one of the best players this season, a 6-1, 4-6, 3-6 loss was certainly a good start for Halep.
She then continued at a lower-tier tournament in Paris but was forced to retire because of an injury. She later admitted that coming back already in Miami was probably a mistake, but her eagerness to return was understandable.
The former World No. 1 player then missed five months of action before returning at the WTA 125K tournament in Hong Kong four weeks ago. In the first round, she outplayed Arina Rodionova before losing to Anna Blinkova in the second round of the tournament.
Halep didn't even have to leave Hong Kong, as her next tournament was another event held there, this time a WTA 250 tournament, the Hong Kong Open.
In the first round of the event, the experienced Romanian player drew the sixth-seeded Yue Yuan. That wasn't the best draw for her, given her opponent's seeding status, but also not the worst, given that also players like Leylah Fernandez, Sofia Kenin, and Diana Shnaider compete at the event.
Early in the match, both players battled for every point. The two-time Grand Slam champion had to save two break points already in the second game of the match, but she did and even created a break point chance in the following game.
She couldn't use that, and in the next game, Halep faced a break point again, but this time, she wasn't able to save it, falling behind 1-3. The Chinese player then only had to focus on her serve, and she did.
Yuan was the better player in the first set, and after she was able to avoid facing further break points, she won the first set of the math relatively easily, 6-3.
But Halep didn't want to give up so easily, and she didn't. She played some exceptional tennis at the start of the second set. After falling behind 0-30 on her serve in the first game, she won 12 of the following 13 points to break her opponent's serve and lead 3-0.
However, that's when her hopes ended. Halep just couldn't keep the same level for the remainder of the second set, and her level dropped significantly.
She started making more errors, and her opponent also played better, which resulted in a very unpleasant run of six games won for Halep's opponent.
That meant Yuan won the match 6-3, 6-3, to reach the second round of the 2024 Hong Kong Open. Up next, she will play against either Nao Hibino or Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Halep, on the other hand, will be happy to play another competitive match before the end of the 2024 season.
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