Halep Pulls Out of Sydney, Radwanska Ousted

World number three Simona Halep has withdrawn from the Sydney International tournament with gastroenteritis, the Romanian announced on Tuesday.

“I feel like I cannot play,” said Halep, the tournament’s top seed. “I came here to play all the tournaments, so it’s not good to stop. I didn’t play already for three days. But I have to recover first myself and then think about tennis.”

Halep says she believes she contracted the illness while in China, where she had captured her ninth career title in Shenzhen last week.

She expects to be ready for the Australian Open next week. Last season, Halep enjoyed the best year of her career and it all started with her quarterfinal run in Melbourne which allowed her to crack the top 10 for the first time in her career.

“I’m confident now,” Halep said of her Aussie Open hopes. “Last year I had some good results, but now it’s another year and another start, and I’ve had a good start, winning in Shenzhen and playing better match by match. There will be more pressure on me now.”

Halep will be the third-seed at next week’s Grand Slam in Melbourne.

In Sydney, she was replaced in the draw by American Nicole Gibbs, who was ran off the court 6-0, 6-0 by the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova on Tuesday.

With the top-seeded Halep out, the draw opened up a bit for the rest of the field, and continued to open up on Tuesday as Spain’s Garbine Muguruza defeated third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.

It looked as if Radwanska was on her way to an easy win, taking the opening set 6-3 in about 30 minutes.

Muguruza would race out to a 4-1 lead in the second frame before the Pollack evened the score with a break of her own. After exchanging holds, Muguruza came out on top in the breaker to force the match into a deciding third set.

With momentum on her side, the Spaniard dominated the third set, nailing three break points on her way to the 6-2 set win to clinch the match.

“For me to have won this match, I feel like I’ve improved a lot,” said Muguruza. “When I play against her I really have to concentrate and play my game, because she makes me play different styles and drop shots and long balls. So I’m really happy I could beat her game.”

Radwanska wasn’t the only seeded player to be sent packing on Tuesday. Sixth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova was beaten by Spaniard Carla Suarez-Navarro 6-4, 1-6, 4-6 in the second-round Tuesday.

Suarez-Navarro notched four break points and fired six aces to get past Makarova. She will play Pliskova in the quarterfinals.

American Madison Keys was forced to retire from her second-round match on Tuesday. Keys led 6-4, 1-1 over Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova before having to walk off the court.

Pironkova will take on Russian Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova in the quarters after Zahlavova-Strycova knocked out Australian Samantha Stosur 7-6(1), 6-2.

Also advancing to the quarters in Sydney was second-seeded Petra Kvitova. The Czech rolled past Shuai Peng 6-1, 7-5 to push through to the final eight.