Eight of the top 10 women in tennis are injured or have become sick in the lead up to the Australian Open, the latest being Angelique Kerber after she withdrew from the Sydney International on Tuesday with a stomach illness.
Kerber lost in the final of last week’s Brisbane International to Victoria Azarenka and beat Elina Svitolina in the first round in Sydney before falling ill and pulling out of her second-round match against Ekaterina Makarova on Tuesday.
Halep showed signs of improvement, shrugging off the Achilles tendon problem that forced her out of the Brisbane International to beat Caroline Garcia 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in the second round.
Earlier, Sara Errani beat former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8).
Mirza-Hingis progress
The seemingly unstoppable duo of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis eased past Anastasia Rodionova and Arina Rodionova 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round of Sydney International to extend their winning streak to 27 matches .
Rohan Bopanna too won his opening round alongside Florin Mergea to enter the quarterfinals of the concurrently held ATP event by beating Denis Istomin and Henri Kontinen 6-7, 6-3, 10-8.