Former world No.1 Simona Halep calls time after Romanian rout

Former world No.1 Simona Halep has announced her retirement after suffering a resounding defeat in her first match of 2025.

Halep belatedly got her season under way in her home event, the Transylvania Open, in Romania on Tuesday, after being handed a wildcard.

But the two-time grand slam champion, currently ranked 870th, won just two games as Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti powered to a 6-1 6-1 victory in just 59 minutes.

Speaking in an emotional on-court interview, Halep said: “Tonight, I don’t know if it’s with joy or sadness, I think both feelings are trying me but I’m making this decision with my soul.

“I’ve always been realistic with myself and with my body.

“Where I probably was, it’s very hard to get there and I know what it means to get there. That’s why I wanted to come here today in Cluj to play in front of you and say goodbye.

“Even though my performance wasn’t very good it was still my soul and I’m very glad you came, and I’ll wonder if I’ll come back again. But for now it’s the last time I’ve played here and I don’t want to cry.

“It’s a beautiful thing. I became world number one, I won grand slams, it’s all I wanted. Life goes on, there is life after tennis and I hope that we will see each other again.”

Halep once stood atop women’s tennis, winning major singles trophies at Wimbledon in 2019 by beating Serena Williams in the final and at the French Open in 2018 by beating Sloane Stephens in the final.

She also was a three-time runner-up at grand slam tournaments ? at the Australian Open in 2018 and the French Open in 2014 and 2017.

But Halep’s last appearance at a major came at the 2022 US Open, where she lost in the first round to Daria Snigur and tested positive for the banned drug Roxadustat.

Halep was given a four-year doping ban that was reduced to nine months due to a contaminated supplement.

CAS determined that Halep bore “some level of fault or negligence” for not exercising “sufficient care” while using the supplement, but “she bore no significant fault or negligence.” So that is why, CAS said, “her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional.”

The 33-year-old last competed on the WTA Tour in October in Hong Kong and played in an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi in December, but subsequently pulled out of qualifying for the Australian Open, citing pain in her knee and shoulder.

She leaves the sport with 24 singles titles and more than $US40 million ($A64 million) in prize money.

With AP.