Simona Halep returned to the WTA circuit after over five months of absence, and the Romanian also won her first official match after 777 days.
In Hong Kong, at a WTA 125 tournament, the double Grand Slam champion first defeated Arina Rodionova in three sets, only to quickly lose to Anna Blinkova in the second round.
On Saturday, the well-known businessman Ion Țiriac was present at the Allianz-Țiriac Arena Ice Rink for the opening of the hockey tournament in which over 400 children will participate. There, during a discussion with journalists, the former Roland Garros champion said that it will be very difficult for Simona to return to her former level:
"I can't speak directly from my experience. After 59 matches won from May to December, all tournaments won, including the French Open and US Open, only one match lost by Vilas at Wimbledon in 1977, and he took a two-month vacation. He also swam, he also ran during this time, but it took him a year and something to at least bring him close to the level he was at. He was quite old, around 30-something. In my opinion, you need at least 50 matches, including qualifiers, everything, to regain form. If that's what Simona wants, that's what she should do," Ion Țiriac said in front of the press at Otopeni.
After the points earned in Asia, Halep climbed to 876th place in the WTA rankings. She will return to Hong Kong for a WTA 250 tournament at the end of October.
D.A.