Halep wins on return but fitness doubts remain

Reuters: World number two Simona Halep overcame a nagging Achilles problem to beat Caroline Garcia of France at the Sydney International on Tuesday ahead of next week’s Australian Open.

The Romanian withdrew from the Brisbane International last week because of the injury, which also affected her 2015 campaign, and she called the trainer during her second-round match.

Halep, who was given a first-round bye, said the pain was coming and going but she produced some of her best tennis in the deciding set on the way to a 6-4 2-6 6-1 victory that set up a quarter-final against Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova.

“When you have pain you always get scared because you don’t know what is going to happen,” she said after her win.

“I felt actually yesterday during the practice same thing. Five minutes pain, five minutes without pain.

“I don’t know exactly what this is. MRI showed that I have just an inflammation and I can keep playing, so I will do my best and I will try to be there, to stay focused.”

The 24-year-old is one of four leading women players heading to the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on Monday, under an injury cloud.

World number one Serena Williams (knee), fifth-ranked Maria Sharapova (arm) and number three Garbine Muguruza (foot) all withdrew from matches in the last week.