Simona Halep of Romania has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance. Simona, ranked ninth in the world, was tested during the U.S. Open and both her A and B samples confirmed the presence of roxadustat, an anti-anaemia drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells much like the prohibited substance Erythropoietin.
"Simona Halep,
a 31-year-old Romanian tennis player, has been provisionally suspended under
Article 7.12.1 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP)," the body
said in a statement.
"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."