SYDNEY — World No. 2 Simona Halep battled an Achilles injury as she overcame France’s Caroline Garcia in three sets at the Sydney International Tuesday.
The Romanian, who was set to make her 2016 debut at last week’s Brisbane International only to pull out with the Achilles injury, downed Garcia 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
Halep, now coached by Australian Darren Cahill, recovered from a faltering second set to power into the quarterfinals where she will face Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova.
“I had pain in the second set. This Achilles pain is coming and going away,” Halep said. “So I’m not sure when it’s coming and when it’s going.” Pliskova dropped only three games in beating Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Halep beat Pliskova in both their previous meetings.
German world No. 7 Angelique Kerber earlier withdrew from the tournament, adding to a lengthy list of ailing women stars ahead of next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne.
The fourth seed, who won her first-round match against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in fierce heat over three sets Monday, pulled out citing a gastro-intestinal illness.
Her withdrawal follows that of defending champion Petra Kvitova, who also had gastro-intestinal problems, and second seed Agnieszka Radwanska who dropped out with a leg injury.
Among other second-round winners Tuesday were Italy’s Sara Errani over Jelena Jankovic in two tiebreak sets, Swiss eighth seed Belinda Bencic in straight sets over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova and Australian Samantha Stosur over Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-2.
Bouchard advances
In Hobart, Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard struggled for form but managed to win through to the quarterfinals of the Hobart International Tuesday.
The former world No. 5 fought through to down Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck 6-4, 7-5.
Looking ahead to next week’s Australian Open, Bouchard said: “I still feel like I’m far off personally, but it’s not too terrible.”
Bouchard faces a quarterfinals meet with tournament top seed Italian Camila Giorgi, who reached the last eight with a comfortable straight sets win over Japan’s Nao Hibino.
Vesely makes early exit
In Wellington, Jiri Vesely’s hopes of defending his Auckland Classic title disappeared in the first round Tuesday when he was bundled out by eighth-seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-3, 7-5.
Former tournament champion Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany had the worst of the rain disruptions, though he managed to turn it to his advantage.
He was trailing compatriot Benjamin Becker 0-30 in the first game when the rain sent the players off the court and they did not resume until nearly six hours later when Kohlschreiber claimed a 7-6 (10-8), 6-3 victory.
Kohlschreiber, who was also a finalist in Auckland in 2013, believes the match has set him up nicely for his second-round clash against number two seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
American Sam Querrey advanced to the second round when Great Britain’s Aljaz Bedene retired with an injury early in the deciding third set.
