Halep gets wild-card entry for Australian Open qualifying

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep, working her way back from a drug suspension, and Hall of Famer Lleyton Hewitt's 16-year-old son Cruz were among the players awarded wild-card entries Wednesday for Australian Open qualifying next month.

Halep, a 33-year-old from Romania, was the runner-up at Melbourne Park in 2018 and won major titles at the French Open later that year and at Wimbledon in 2019. She has been ranked as high as No. 1 but is currently 877th and hasn't played at any Grand Slam tournament since 2022 after missing all tournaments for 1 1/2 years because of a doping case.

Cruz Hewitt is ranked outside the top 1,000. His father, who won two major trophies and reached No. 1 in the rankings, made his Australian Open debut in 1997 at age 15 via a qualifying wild card. Lleyton Hewitt retired in 2016, was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2021 and is currently Australia's Davis Cup captain.

Other men who got wild cards for the Jan. 6-9 qualifying event include 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Chris Eubanks and former top 25 players Dan Evans and Bernard Tomic, while the women's group includes Paris Olympics doubles gold medalist and 2012 French Open singles runner-up Sara Errani and top 20 players Petra Martic and Ana Konjuh.

Main-draw action begins in Melbourne on Jan. 12.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis