Simona Halep was beaten on her return from a doping ban, going down in three sets to Paula Badosa at the Miami Open.
The Romanian, a two-time grand slam winner who spent 64 weeks as world No 1, was playing her first match since the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her suspension from four years to nine months. Halep looked like she had never been away as she raced away with the first set in just 38 minutes. But Badosa, herself a former world No 2, dug in to win 1-6 6-4 6-3.
Badosa is scheduled to play second seed Aryna Sabalenka in round two later this week, although there is understandable doubt surrounding the Australian Open champion's participation after the death of her boyfriend Konstantin Koltsov on Tuesday. Two more former world No 1s were also in action in the first round. Dane Caroline Wozniacki swept past France's Clara Burel 6-1 6-4 but Venus Williams, 43, was knocked out by 19-year-old Russian Diana Shnaider 6-3 6-3 in an hour and 19 minutes.
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