Simona Halep Receives Australian Open Qualifying Wild Card

Melbourne will be Simona Halep’s major launching pad next month.

Former world No. 1 Halep has accepted a wild card into 2025 Australian Open qualifying at Melbourne Park, January 6-9th.

It will be Halep’s first Grand Slam appearance since she suffered a US Open first-round loss to Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur in August of 2022.

The 2018 Australian Open finalist Halep said she’s grateful for the wild card and has been training hard for the 2025 season.

“The thought of returning to Australia after three years is exciting and I’m very grateful to the tournament for this opportunity. I have been working hard to get ready for the 2025 season,” Halep said. “The Australian Open has provided me with some of the best moments in my career, so I can’t wait to be back in Melbourne and playing in front of the Aussie fans.”

The 33-year-old Romanian reached the round of 16 in her last Australian Open appearance in 2022. Halep contested the AO fourth round or better in her last five Melbourne Park appearances, highlighted by her 2018 final run and 2020 semifinal showing.

Sixteen-year-old Cruz Hewitt, former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt’s son, was one of eight Aussie men issued 2025 Australian Open Men’s Qualifying wild cards.

American Alycia Parks, whose ranking has jumped to No. 82 after she beat Belinda Bencic in the final of the WTA 125 in Angers, France last week, is the top seed in Australian Open women’s qualifying.

Explosive server Parks, Viktorija Golubic and Nuria Parrizas Diaz are the three Top-100 ranked women set to compete in AO qualifying

The top-seeded Halep was six points from her first Grand Slam crown holding a 4-3 lead in the decisive set of the 2018 Australian Open final when Caroline Wozniacki staged a career-defining comeback.

The second-ranked Wozniacki surged through the last three games edging Halep, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, in a pulsating Australian Open final to capture her maiden major in her third Grand Slam final.

On a steamy Saturday night in Melbourne, Wozniacki vanquished Grand Slam ghosts and a gallant Halep in a glorious two hour, 50-minute fight.

In a final featuring current and former world No. 1 players, the pair pushed each other all over the court in a clash of dizzying drama.