The former world No 1 knows what it is to stay the course at a tournament; to watch the field slowly dwindle until she is all but alone in the locker room; to hoist the trophy on finals day. She has done it 24 times in her career, most notably at Roland Garros in 2018, and again at Wimbledon the following summer. 

But as the 32-year-old Romanian played her first match in 19 months at the Miami Open, where she was beaten 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 by Paula Badosa of Spain, she was just grateful to be playing professional tennis at all. 

That looked a remote prospect last September, when Halep was handed a four-year ban after failing a drugs test at the 2022 US Open. But things have moved quickly since the court of arbitration for sport (CAS) ruled earlier this month that she was not guilty of intentional doping, the offer of a wildcard for one of the season’s bigger events proving too tempting to turn down. 

“I came just because the boost, the love for tennis, just brought me here,” said Halep. “It was fast, because it was a just few days after the decision, but I’m really happy that I did it. I came here and I felt again the love for sport.”

Perhaps inevitably, Halep’s body struggled to keep pace with her ambition. She required medical treatment on her shoulder late in the second set and, understandably after so long on the sidelines, began to fade physically in the closing stages. But nothing could dampen her mood, and she left the court just as she entered it, smiling broadly and thankful for the support shown by the Miami public.

“I would rate it as a special day, honestly, considering the period I had,” said Halep. “Playing so well, feeling so well on court, feeling so well outside of the court with so many people that are very nice to me and giving me the love, I would say that this day is going to stay very special for me. 

“Of course, I had many results in the past, big results. But here it’s something more than tennis, it’s something personal. I really love to see that people are appreciating me besides tennis, and besides everything that happened.”

The one discordant note was sounded by another former world No 1, Caroline Wozniacki, who pointed out that Halep’s ban was reduced rather than overturned, and said wildcards should not be granted in such circumstances.

“I have always wanted a clean sport, fair for everybody,” said the 33-year-old Dane. “It’s definitely still my opinion.

“This is not directly at Simona, but if someone purposely cheats, if someone has tested positive for doping… I understand why a tournament wants a big star in the tournament, but it’s my personal belief that I don’t think people should be awarded wild cards afterwards.  

“If you want to come back, and it’s been a mistake, I understand, but you should work your way up from the bottom. That’s my personal opinion. 

“Simona’s situation has obviously dragged on for a long time. She got her suspension reduced. It wasn’t a clearance, it was a reduced sentence. She’s now been off of the game for a while and she’s coming back. Again, I just hope for a clean sport. That’s all I want.”

Having first been suspended on 7 October 2022, Halep was cleared to make an immediate return to the sport after a CAS appeal panel, accepting her argument that the ingestion of a contaminated collagen supplement was behind her failed test, reduced her ban to nine months. But while the panel ruled that she was not guilty of intentional doping, they said she “did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care” when using the supplement.

Halep bristled when Wozniacki’s comments were put to her.

“Why did she say that?” asked the Romanian, whose lengthy absence from the game has left her without a world ranking, leaving her dependent on wildcards for the time being. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t cheat. I didn’t dope. So it’s better if we read the decision from CAS that it was a contaminated supplement, it wasn’t doping. 

“I never had something to do with doping. I never doped, so I’m not a cheater. Thank you to the tournament for giving me the wild card and the possibility to play in such a big tournament. It was great to be back.  

“Only one person being negative about me is not that important, because I have hundreds of people giving me love, so I will take that.”

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The former world No 1 has not played since losing in the opening round of the 2022 US Open, where she tested positive for Roxadustat, an oral medication used to treat anaemia.

Halep was subsequently banned by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which initially charged her with using a prohibited substance and later identified irregularities in her athlete biological passport, essentially a compilation of blood samples taken over time that are tested for changes indicative of doping. 

However, a CAS appeal panel ruled that “on the balance of probabilities” Halep was not guilty of intentional doping, accepting her argument that the positive test was caused by the ingestion of a contaminated collagen supplement called Keto MCT. While the panel found that the Romanian “did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care” when using the supplement, it concluded that she was not guilty of “significant fault or negligence”.

The allegations relating to Halep’s biological passport were dismissed by CAS, the panel concluding they were “not comfortably satisfied” that “likely doping” was to blame, as the ITIA had claimed. Halep, who has protested her innocence from the outset, hailed a “just decision” and branded the accusations levelled at her “scandalous”.

“Throughout this long and difficult process, I have maintained my belief that the truth would eventually come out, and that a just decision would be reached, because I am and always have been a clean athlete,” said the 32-year-old in a statement.  

“My faith in the process was tested by the scandalous accusations that were levelled against me, and by the seemingly unlimited resources that were aligned against me. But in the end, the truth prevailed, even if it took much longer than I wish it had. I cannot wait to return to the tour.”

The decision leaves Halep, whose revised nine-month ban ended last July, free to resume a career that looked to be over when the ITIA issued her with a ban lasting until October 2026. Social media updates suggest she has been training regularly and, while her prolonged absence from the game means she no longer holds a world ranking, there should be no shortage of wild card offers for the former Wimbledon and French Open champion.

“Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, the CAS panel determined that Ms Halep had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement which she had used in the days shortly before 29 August 2022 and that the Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product,” read a CAS statement. 

“As a result, the CAS panel determined that Ms Halep had also established, on the balance of probabilities, that her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional.  

“Although the CAS panel found that Ms Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence.”

The panel’s findings were published in a two-page summary intended to let Halep make a swift return to the court following 18 months in exile. A full explanation of the reasoning behind the verdict will follow. For now, though, the ITIA is left contemplating a wholesale rebuttal of its contention that the level of Roxadustat in Halep’s system was too great to be accidental, as well as an order to pay 20,000 Swiss francs towards the Romanian’s legal fees. 

“An essential element of the anti-doping process is a player’s ability to appeal, and the ITIA respects both their right to do so, and the outcome,” said Karen Moorhouse, the ITIA’s chief executive officer.  

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Halep is seven months into a provisional suspension after testing positive for Roxadustat, an oral medication used to treat anaemia, at last year’s US Open. 

The ITIA said in a statement that an assessment of Halep’s biological passport, essentially a compilation of blood samples taken over time that are tested for changes that might indicate doping, showed evidence of irregularities, prompting the second charge. 

The Romanian, who has vigorously denied any wrongdoing, countered that she is “a victim of contamination”, insisting that expert analysis of her blood has revealed no abnormalities. In a statement on social media, Halep expressed frustration that she has not yet had the opportunity to have her case heard by an independent tribunal, accusing the ITIA of hounding her.

“Since October 7, when I got charged by the ITIA for a suspicion of doping, I have lived the worst nightmare I have ever gone through in my life,” wrote Halep. 

“Not only has my name been soiled in the worst possible way, but I am facing a constant determination from the ITIA for a reason that I cannot understand, to prove my guilt while I haven’t ever even thought of taking any illicit substance.

“I tried two times to have the opportunity to be judged by an independent tribunal and the ITIA has constantly found reasons to postpone.

“Now that we have clearly established that I have been victim of a contamination, they came up with a so-called not normal evolution of my blood. Three world renowned experts that have studied my blood tests have been extremely clear that my blood is totally normal.

“I feel helpless facing such harassment and a motivation on their behalf to prove me guilty of something I never did.”

Halep spoke last month of her frustration over the protracted nature of the case, saying it was “tough to lose days, weeks, and months” of her career while the IATI completes its investigation. The 31-year-old, the most prominent female player to fail a drugs test since Maria Sharapova was banned for taking meldonium, a drug used to treat cardiac issues, in 2016, said she hoped to prove her innocence at a hearing set for the end of May. 

“We understand that today’s announcement adds complexity to an already high-profile situation,” said Nicole Sapstead, senior director for anti-doping at the ITIA. 

“From the outset of this process – and indeed any other at the ITIA – we have remained committed to engaging with Ms Halep in an empathetic, efficient, and timely manner.

“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on specifics until the conclusion of the process, but we will continue to engage with the Sport Resolutions independent tribunal and Ms Halep’s representatives as expeditiously as possible.”

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Halep, a former Wimbledon and French Open champion, tested positive for Roxadustat, an oral medication used to treat anaemia by stimulating the production of red blood cells, at the US Open in August. 

The Romanian said in a statement on social media that she would “fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance”, and her stance has been backed by Mouratoglou, the French coach with whom she has been working since April.

“I support you 100% in this fight Simona,” wrote Mouratoglou on his Instagram story. “All the way through.”

Mouratoglou’s show of solidarity came after Cornet, the Frenchwoman who defeated Halep to reach her maiden grand slam quarter-final at the Australian Open in January, became the first player to voice support publicly for the 31-year-old. 

“With you all the way Simona,” wrote Cornet, who herself avoided a doping ban four years ago after an independent tribunal absolved her of blame for missing a third out-of-competition test in 12 months. “It’s unfair but you will win this fight.”

Halep is popular among her peers, and has also received plenty of support from fans on social media since the announcement.

In Cirstea, however, she has found a more unexpected champion. Although the pair have known each other since they were eight years old, and have played together on Romania’s Billie Jean King Cup team, Cirstea has acknowledged that they are colleagues rather than close friends. Cirstea reiterated that stance on her Instagram story, but nonetheless offered her countrywoman a glowing character reference.

“Although we may not be the best of friends, I know Simona well enough for decades to strongly believe that she would never willingly and in good faith touch any doping substance,” wrote Cirstea, the world No 39. 

“The sport of tennis represents fair play and puts rivalries aside. She is a great player that I believe won through her own merits.

“I really hope she will fight it out and shed the much-needed light – for her, and for our beloved sport.”

Mihaela Buzarnescu, the former world No 20 and another BJK Cup team-mate, likewise offered Halep words of solace.

“Fingers crossed for you,” wrote Buzarnescu. “We all know what a fighter you are.”

Buzarnescu’s sentiments were echoed by a statement on the official Twitter account of the Transylvania Open.

“We have seen nothing but hard work and devotion from Simona during her entire career,” read the statement. “We are confident that the truth will come out and we will see Simona Back on court soon.”

Others were more circumspect. 

 “I’ll reserve my thoughts until she has gone through the process of investigating how it happened and how it ended up in her system,” wrote Rennae Stubbs, the Australian former player and coach. 

“She’s never struck me as someone who would cheat to get ahead. Hope this is a mistake. If not, then this is terrible.”

Victoria Azarenka, who defeated Coco Gauff 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-3 to move into the semi-finals in Guadalajara, offered a similarly guarded reaction.

“I saw the news,” said Azarenka, “but I don’t know anything about the situation. I just hope it gets resolved whichever way is correct.  I’ve played against Simona many, many times. I hope she gets the resolution that she wants.”

Azarenka will face Jessica Pegula in the last four after the American third seed saw off her compatriot Sloane Stephens 6-2, 6-2. 

In a winner-takes-all showdown, Maria Sakkari defeated Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 to claim the final slot at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth ahead of the Russian. Sakkari joins Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur, Pegula, Gauff, Caroline Garcia, Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kastakina in the eight-woman singles field for the season-ending showpiece.

“As bad as my season after Indian Wells was, I still just gave myself this chance to finish the year strong,” said Sakkari. “I think that’s the best gift I can give to myself, just making it to Fort Worth. I’m really looking forward for that two-week period there.

The Greek fourth seed will face Marie Bouzkova in the semi-finals after Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya retired with a foot injury while trailing 5-2 in the first set.

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Halep, who was stunned by the Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur in the opening round at Flushing Meadows, tested positive for Roxadustat, an oral medication used to treat anaemia, according to a statement published by the International Tennis Integrity Agency.

Roxadustat, which is typically given to people suffering from chronic kidney disease, increases levels of haemoglobin, the red substance in blood that combines with oxygen and carries it around the body. More haemoglobin means more oxygen, and therefore better athletic performance. 

In a statement issued on social media, Halep, described the result as “the biggest shock of my life”. The Romanian, who noted that the prohibited substance had been detected “in an extremely low quantity”, said she would battle to prove her innocence.  

“Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth,” Halep, currently ranked ninth, wrote on Twitter. 

“Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against all the values I have been educated with. Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed.

“I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance and I have faith that sooner or later, the truth will come out.

“It’s not about the titles or the money. It’s about honour, and the love story I have developed with the game of tennis over the last 25 years.”

Halep, who won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon the following summer, announced after the US Open that she would not compete again this season after undergoing surgery on her nose to correct a breathing problem. 

A semi-finalist at the All England Club this year, the 31-year-old returned to the top 10 in August after losing her place among the game’s elite for the first time in more than seven years the previous summer, when a calf injury forced her to miss Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics.

Halep has attributed her improved form to her partnership with Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams, with whom she began working in April. However, Mouratoglou recently announced that he would be coaching the Danish teenager Holger Rune pending Halep’s return from her nose operation, stating that the Romanian had “encouraged me to seek a new collaboration”.

Halep, who has won titles in Melbourne and Toronto this year, will not be able to compete again until her case is heard. 

“The sample was split into A and B samples and the subsequent analysis found that the A sample contained FG-4592 (Roxadustat), which is a prohibited substance listed in the 2022 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. Adverse analytical findings for non-specified substances carry a mandatory provisional suspension,” said the ITIA statement.  

“The player exercised their right to request that the B sample was analysed, which confirmed the finding in the A sample. While provisionally suspended, the player is ineligible to compete in or attend any sanctioned tennis events organised by the governing bodies of the sport.”

Halep is the most high-profile female player to fail a drugs test since Maria Sharapova was banned for taking meldonium, a drug used to treat cardiac issues, in 2016. 

Sharapova was initially banned from the sport for two years before the Court of Arbitration for Sport found that she had not intentionally violated the rules, reducing her sentence to 15 months.

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Halep, a two-time grand slam champion and former world No 1, said the long-standing condition deteriorated over the North American hard-court swing, a period when she was also afflicted by mental fatigue. The 30-year-old, who went into the US Open among the title favourites but suffered a first-round upset at the hands of Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur, said she was unsure of the timeframe for her recovery. 

“When I lost at the US Open, I realised that I’m completely exhausted mentally,” wrote Halep on social media. “Having [had] problems with the breathing for many years already, and becoming worse with time, I decided to follow the advice of my doctors and do the needed surgery.

“I could never do it earlier because I never found the necessary three months for the recovery, because tennis was always the first priority in my life. But I felt it’s the right time to do it.

“I don’t know how long the recovery will take, for the moment I am not thinking about anything but recovery. What is sure is that this year I won’t be able to compete in any official tournament any more.”

Halep, who added that aesthetic considerations were a factor in her decision to go under the knife, also elaborated on the background to the panic attack she suffered during her shock second-round exit to Qinwen Zheng at the French Open.

The Romanian, a title winner at Roland Garros in 2018, described how she put too much pressure on herself after entering into a coaching collaboration with Patrick Mouratoglou, the former coach of Serena Williams, in April. 

“it was a very tough period because I always put pressure on myself and, having the best coach next to me, it felt even more pressure to win and to do well. This ended up with a panic attack during my match in Paris,” wrote Halep. 

“I felt Roland Garros was the moment that I have to play great because of all the work I’ve done. I couldn’t handle the pressure and I broke down. Then I talked to Patrick and told him that I need to relax, because I can’t play with the pressure I put on myself, and asked him to be patient with me for the next six months. No expectations. He listened to me, agreed and he supported me 100%.”

The approach swiftly yielded results. Bolstered by semi-finals runs in Birmingham, Bad Homburg and Wimbledon, and after winning her first trophy under Mouratoglou in Toronto, Halep returned to the top 10 just two months after her disappointment in Paris. 

“Faster than I ever expected, in only two months, I was back to the top 10,” wrote Halep. “Goal achieved!”

Halep, who is currently ranked ninth, has not set a formal date for her return to the tour, but will no doubt hope to be back in time for January’s Australian Open.

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It would be putting it mildly to say that Snigur, ranked 124th in the world, does things her own way. Her forehand, struck flat with an extended, seemingly telescopic arm, puts one in mind of an airborne albatross. Her backhand is for the most part an ungainly scoop – except when Snigur is pulled into the corners, from where she tends to wield her racket like an oversized fly-swatter. The serve, meanwhile, in which Snigur’s feet come together quickly before the most cursory of knee bends, is delivered with an awkward, toppling motion. Unorthodox barely begins to cover it.

Make no mistake, though, the wonderfully engaging 20-year-old can play, as she demonstrated with a remarkable, emotionally charged 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 victory over seventh seed Simona Halep, who had arrived in New York as one of the title favourites following her recent victory in Toronto. It was a tenacious, composed performance from Snigur, who calmly made the most of a strangely subdued start by Halep, remained unflappable in the face of a second-set whitewash, and held her nerve down the stretch as the former world No 1 reeled off three consecutive games from 5-1 down.

Snigur’s resilience has been forged by adversity. Russian bombing forced the former junior Wimbledon champion to abandon her training base in Kyiv, the city of her birth, and she prepared for the US Open in Latvia. Last week, she participated in Tennis Plays for Peace, an exhibition event at Flushing Meadows that was supported by Iga Swiatek and Rafael Nadal, and raised $1.2m for humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine. It has been a turbulent period in Snigur’s life and, when Halep stabbed a final backhand into the net to confirm the most improbable of outcomes, she dissolved into tears. In the stands, her father held his head in disbelief. Still overcome by emotion, Snigur formed a heart shape with her hands around a ribbon in the colours of the Ukrainian flag as she drank in the crowd’s applause.

“This is a victory for Ukraine, for all Ukrainian people, for my family, for my team,” said Snigur. “The situation is bad, of course. I try to do the best for Ukraine, I try to support my country. It’s not so easy because the war is continuing. Sometimes it’s impossible to play, but I try to do my best because I want to live in Ukraine.

“Before the war, I practised in Kyiv. But Russia bombed my base, so before the US Open I practised in Riga with my coach. But I don’t have a base where I can practise every time.”

There was another major shock in the women’s singles when Harriet Dart, the British No 2, came through in three sets against Daria Kasatkina, the Russian 10th seed. Dart, who had never previously won a match at the US Open, defied the torrid conditions on Court 12 to claim a 7-6 (10-8), 1-6, 6-3 over the French Open semi-finalist.

In the men’s singles, Stefanos Tsitsipas joined the casualty list as the Greek fourth seed tumbled to a 6-0, 6-1, 3-6 ,7-5 defeat against Daniel Galan, a Colombian qualifier ranked 94th in the world. 

Tsitsipas, a finalist in Cincinnati, arrived at Flushing Meadows as one of five players capable of ending the tournament as world No 1. But as Galan stormed into a 6-0, 5-0 lead, hitting freely in the blustery conditions, Tsitsipas struggled to find his range and sprayed unforced errors – 27 in the first two sets alone. Despite a much improved showing in the third set, and a courageous attempt to cling on as he fought off eight match points, it was a start from which the 24-year-old never quite recovered. 

“I was very motivated and pumped before the US Open started, because I knew I could use this tournament to get closer to the No 1 spot,” said Tsitsipas. “It would be very weird and very unusual if it didn’t cross my mind, because this is something I wanted since I was a kid, and I knew this was my chance. 

“It just didn’t go as planned. Sometimes you just need to let it go, you don’t need to overthink it, you don’t need to push yourself too hard. But at the same time it’s difficult, because there’s this open opportunity right in front of you, you don’t want to mess it up, you don’t want to waste it.”

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A former Wimbledon and French Open champion who held the No 1 ranking for 64 weeks, Halep had almost forgotten what it was like not to be ranked among the game’s elite. But after losing last summer to injury, the Romanian dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in more than seven years. Fearful she would never regain her former level, she told family and friends she was done with tennis.

After overcoming Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in Toronto to win her third Canadian Open title, Halep will be glad she stuck around. She has spoken frequently of regaining her old fire in the four months since she hired Patrick Mouratglou and, having claimed her first trophy in tandem with the French coach, she will return to sixth in the rankings on Monday with her sights set firmly on further success.

“I’ve been many years there,” said Halep. “But now I feel like it’s a big deal to be back in the top 10. I’m really happy with this performance.  When I started the year I was not very confident, and I set the goal to be, at the end of the year, top 10. And here I am. So it’s a very special moment. I will enjoy it. I will give myself credit. I’m just dreaming for more.”

A summer that has brought a run to the Wimbledon semi-finals and a first WTA 1000 title in more than two years would suggest that more is eminently possible. Only Iga Swiatek, the world No 1, has bettered Halep’s 38 match wins this season, and the manner of her victory over the tenacious Haddad Maia, who seemed to have acquired an unstoppable momentum over the past week, only underlined the sense that she has become a more complete player than ever. 

On an afternoon when the fortunes of both players waxed and waned, the most notable constant was Halep’s belief that she could turn the tables on a player who had ambushed her in the semi-finals of the Birmingham Classic two months ago. Haddad Maia offered the Romanian every opportunity to doubt herself, racing into an early lead in the first set, raising her level to run away with the second, and doggedly retrieving an early break in the decider. Through it all, and despite rarely touching the heights of which she is capable, Halep remained unflinching.

“It was a hard match, difficult match, because she played really, really well,” said Halep. “She’s a very tough opponent. She fought very hard until the end, so I had to stay there. I had to run, sometimes a lot. But I also believed, until the end, that I have the chance to win the match.”

For three games, it looked as though no amount of belief on Halep’s part could keep Haddad Maia at bay. The Brazilian had bullied Iga Swiatek’s second serve during her victory over the world No 1 earlier in the week, and as her opponent stepped inside the baseline to receive, bristling with aggressive intent, Halep could have been forgiven for having flashbacks to the early stages of her semi-final win over Jessica Pegula, who had treated her second delivery with similar disdain. Perhaps she did, for she hit four double faults to concede her opening service game. 

“Terrible,” said Halep. “I’ve been stressed a little bit. I didn’t expect to do four double faults in one game. I don’t know if it [ever] happened before. But sometimes you have to accept that you are not great in some moments, and still [keep] fighting to calm down and to get the confidence back. In the end, it was much better serving.”

In truth, it was much better everything. Halep has adopted a more aggressive approach under Mouratoglou and, while she was never likely to outhit Haddad Maia, she has rarely been more willing to fight fire with fire. As errors crept into the Brazilian’s game and the weight of the occasion began to tell, Halep stood her ground and went to work, finding her range off the ground to reel off six straight games.

Yet if Haddad Maia has proven anything in a week when she has claimed the scalps of Swiatek and three other top-20 players, it is that she is a ferocious and indomitable competitor. The 26-year-old had come storming back from a set down against Belinda Bencic in the quarter-finals and here she took a leaf out of the same playbook, doubling down on her aggressive intent to produce her best tennis of the contest.

“I try to forgive myself, even if I miss, if I did something wrong,” said Haddad Maia, who will rise to a new career high of 16th. “Even when I lost six games in a row, I think Simona wasn’t playing her best tennis also. So maybe she could be nervous as well at this moment.  

“But I was trying to play more aggressive, to do what my coach told me to do, because we know what the goal was. But I was not doing [it] the right way. 

“I was just believing that I could improve during the match. I think tennis is a long match, it’s not a hundred metres, it’s like a marathon. So I was just trying to fight, and that’s why I could get through the second set.”

Haddad Maia was unable to capitalise on an opportunity to break early in the decider, and although she hit back immediately to reclaim a break in the next game, Halep was not to be denied. The closing stages were all about instinct, the 30-year-old falling back on the counterpunching style that has served her so well down the years as she hustled and retrieved, making shot after shot and refusing to give anything away.

“It’s been a battle today,” said Halep. “I’m really happy that I could be stronger in the important moments.”

In the men’s final in Montreal, Pablo Carreño Busta defeated Hubert Hurkacz, the Polish 10th seed, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

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The questions that rained down upon the 23-year-old in the press room were, of course, inevitable. When the All England Club announced their decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from the tournament, they made a bed in which Rybakina must now lie. It may or may not be true that she still resides in Moscow. “I’m based on tour, because I’m travelling every week,” she said, neatly sidestepping the question when asked. 

What is undeniable, however, is that with her 6-3, 6-3 victory over Halep, who had not previously dropped a set over the fortnight, Rybakina becomes the first singles player from Kazakhstan to make a grand slam final.

“It’s amazing, it’s unbelievable and I feel great right now,” said Rybakina. “I [have been] playing already for Kazakhstan for a long time, and I’m really happy representing Kazakhstan. They believed in me, and there’s no more question about how I feel. It’s already a long time, my journey as a Kazakh player, I played Olympics, Fed Cup.”

With Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur also breaking new ground as the first Arab or African woman to make a grand slam final in the open era, the prelude to the women’s final should have a celebratory feel. Instead, the All England Club will be shifting uncomfortably at the possibility of the Duchess of Cambridge presenting a Russian-born player with the Venus Rosewater dish – the very propaganda coup that the ban on Russians and Belarusians was intended to avoid – and Rybakina was pressed on whether she felt Russian “in her heart”. 

“What does it mean for you to feel?” she said. “I’m playing tennis, so for me, I’m enjoying my time here. I feel for the players who couldn’t come here, but I’m just enjoying playing here on the biggest stage, and enjoying my time and trying to do my best.”

Against Halep, her best was formidable. Faced with multiple questions as she sought to seize the biggest opportunity of her fledgling career, Rybakina answered them all with aplomb. 

Would the enormity of the occasion get to her early on? The opening game, won to love as she interspersed three big serves with a winning drop shot, suggested not. That impression was immediately confirmed when Rybakina broke in the second behind a succession of deep, powerful returns that caught Halep on her heels. It was a case of the biter bit: in the previous round, the Romanian had dished out similarly ruthless treatment to Amanda Anisimova’s delivery. Unnerved, Halep helped Rybakina on her way with a double fault, establishing what would become a recurring theme.

How effective would the thunderous serve that is the cornerstone of Rybakina’s game prove against a returner of Halep’s calibre? Very, as it transpired. Halep, who had put an astonishing 81% of her returns back into play en route to the semi-finals, won only one in three points against Rybakina’s delivery, a fact that owed as much to the Kazakh’s clever changes of pace and direction as the 120mph missiles that are her forte. Halep repeatedly struggled to deal with Rybakina’s low, sliced deliveries wide to the deuce court, with her problems compounded by the fact that she never quite knew when her rival would unleash a harder, flatter ball down the middle. 

Halep’s serve, meanwhile, one of the most improved aspects of her game since she began her collaboration with French coach Patrick Mouratoglou three months ago, was placed under intolerable pressure. As Rybakina treated her opponent’s second delivery with contempt, blasting away second balls that frequently arrived at less than 80mph, the former world No 1 began to miss with alarming frequency. Not until the third game of the second set did Halep escape a service game without facing a break point. Nine double faults – including, most damagingly, three in the opening game of the second set – told their own story.

“I improved a lot in my serve in the last three months, but today I feel like I went back to my normal one,” said Halep afterwards. “Many double faults, and too soft. Definitely if I would have had a better serve today, it would have been better.

“It happens. I had three months of changing things. Probably I need more time to fix them.”

As Rybakina closed in on victory, the only question that remained was whether she would falter with such a huge prize at stake. Again, the answer was emphatic. Broken to love in the fourth game as she suffered her only lapse of the contest, making four unforced errors, she bounced back immediately, earning a break point with a beautifully constructed rally before Halep once again obligingly double-faulted at a critical moment. With Rybakina serving at 4-3, 40-30, and Halep fighting for her life, the Kaazkh found a 121mph ace, her biggest serve of the contest. Rybakina’s first match point arrived in the next game and she seized it with alacrity, firing a precise backhand return for a winner.

“I really felt solid in my game, and I think I did everything good,” said Rybakina. “In the previous matches I had many ups and downs but today, even if I lost some points, I was really focused. In the end, I’m really happy with my result.”

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As Ons Jabeur achieved the biggest win of her life, defeating her close friend Tatjana Maria 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the Wimbledon final, her first thought was for the German mother of two whose progress to the semi-finals has been one of the stories of the past fortnight. 

Having shared a warm embrace and a few quiet words of solace with Maria at the net, Jabeur grabbed her “barbecue buddy” by the arm and led her back on to court, pointing to the 34-year-old as she joined in with the applause that rained down from the Centre Court stands. 

“I definitely wanted to share the moment with Tatjana at the end, because she is such an inspiration for so many players, including me, coming back after two babies,” Jabeur told the crowd. “I still can’t believe how she did it.”

“She deserves a lot of respect, Tatjana, making the first time semi-final, the way she plays, the way she fights,” the 27-year-old later added in press. “If I didn’t see her two kids, I would say she never had the kids. It’s really amazing how she moves on the court, it’s really inspiring for a lot of women.” 

Jabeur, who has inspired a people, a country and a continent, knows whereof she speaks. The Tunisian world No 2 has long been a trailblazer for Arab and African women, establishing a host of historic landmarks. She is the first Arab player, male or female, to break the world’s top 10, and became the first to progress beyond a grand slam quarter-final with her win over Marie Bouzkova. 

Now she is the first African woman to reach a major final since Sandra Reynolds, the South African beaten by Maria Bueno in the 1960 final. Jabeur, who will face Elena Rybakina in Saturday’s final after the 17th-seeded Kazakh defeated Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3, has embraced her figurehead status. “An amazing role model,” Maria called her afterwards. That much is indisputable – and she is not done yet. 

“I want to go bigger, inspire many more generations,” she said. “Tunisia is connected to the Arab world, is connected to the African continent. That area, we want to see more players, you know, it’s not like Europe. I want to see more players from my country, from the Middle East, from Africa. I think we didn’t believe enough at certain points that we can do it. Now I’m just trying to show that, and hopefully people are getting inspired.” 

The Centre Court crowd were certainly galvanised. How richly the pair deserved the standing ovation they received. For an hour and 43 minutes, they produced tennis that was quite literally out of this world, harking back to a bygone age when the game was about artistry and nuance rather than raw, bludgeoning power. It was a joyful exhibition, full of spins, grins and mind-bending geometry that left no angle or area of the court unexplored.

Think of a shot that can be hit on a tennis court, and this match had it. Dinks and drop shots, weighty drives and artful lobs, they were all here – and that was just in the brilliant opening game, a five-deuce feast for the senses finally won by Maria as she held after eight absorbing minutes.  

Whatever antics Nick Kyrgios may get up to in the days ahead, the Australian will do nothing that comes close to the outrageousness on display here. At one stage, Jabeur reached back to retrieve a ball that was already past her, pulling off a drop half-volley of such bewitching virtuosity that even she didn’t know where it would end up. As the Tunisian performed an impromptu pirouette, Maria came dashing forward to slice the ball back across the face of the net, finding an angle so acute that even Jabeur was bamboozled into error. 

Later, Jabeur punctuated a cat-and-mouse exchange of angles with an audacious flicked forehand off another ball that seemed to have passed her by. On and on they went, Maria angling away an elegant drop volley only for Jabeur to materialise at the last possible instant, skidding and stretching, to conjure an unreachable dink with an audacious flick of the wrist. 

Statistics felt redundant in the face of such artistry, and sure enough the numbers were misleading. They showed that Jabeur made 30 unforced errors, Maria three fewer. Crucially, however, only three of the Tunisian’s mistakes came in the final set. By that time, Jabeur had come to terms with the awkward nature of her opponent’s game, which ironically posed her the same kind of difficulties she is used to inflicting on others. 

Able to make her greater weight of shot tell in the first set, Jabeur struggled to contain a rampant Maria in the second. As the German’s sliced forehands skidded ever faster through the court, so Jabeur’s feet and racket-head speed slowed. Mishits became frequent, errors – both forced and unforced – even more so. But as the third set began, Jabeur raised her level, sealing a love hold with a trademark flying backhand before breaking in the next game with a flicked forehand pass. She would not be caught.

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