Simona Halep's four-year ban for doping has been reduced to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Having originally feared her career would be all but over, the decision means the former world No1 can return to tennis immediately.

While Halep's case was partially upheld, the court ruled the two-time Grand Slam winner — who blamed contaminated nutritional supplements — had not taken anti-anemia medication Roxadustat intentionally at the US Open in 2022.

An official statement said: "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 she had used in the days shortly before August 29, 2022.

"The Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product.

"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."

As Halep has already served a provisional ban since October 2022, the 32-year-old is now free to play again with immediate effect.

Speaking about her case in September 2023, she said: "The last year has been the hardest match of my life and, unfortunately, my fight continues.

"I have devoted my life to the beautiful game of tennis. I take the rules that govern our sport very seriously and take pride in the fact I have never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance.

"I refused to accept their decision of a four-year ban."

The Romanian won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon the following year.

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