Halep in Sydney quarters

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.

At the WTA’s Hobart International, former Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova defeated Kimberly Birrell 6-1, 6-0 and 2012 Hobart champion Mona Barthel of Germany beat Naomi Osaka 7-6 (2), 6-2.

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Defending champion Petra Kvitova also pulled out of the tournament with a stomach bug and world number five Agnieszka Radwanska withdrew with a left leg injury.

The Romanian raced into a 5-1 lead in the first set and although Pliskova claimed one break back she was unable to mount a fightback, with the favourite then wrapping up the victory despite failing to hold twice in the second set.

Sock dispatched the 25-year-old Pospisil 6-2, 6-4.

“It was tricky out here today because of the wind but I’m happy with how I played overall”, Stosur said.

Halep felt it during her three-set defeat of Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia on Tuesday night, and it was there again at Olympic Park on Wednesday when she edged Karolina Pliskova 6-4 7-5, though to a lesser extent. “But I like to play against her. I have had good matches with her before and I expect another tough one”.

The top seed withdrew from the Brisbane International last week because of an ankle injury and was given a bye in the first round of this week’s Sydney event. “That’s the thing that is very important to me”.

Halep is now 3-0 in her career against Pliskova, and will take on Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.

“I know that she’s playing a lot of top spin, so it’s a different player tomorrow, different style”, Halep said of facing Kuznetsova.

In the men’s draw, seeds Alexandr Dolgopolov and Jeremy Chardy booked their places in the second round but No. 7 seed Leonardo Mayer lost out to Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-4 6-3.

On a rain-disrupted second day that saw no matches completed during the day session, Bautista Agut made up time in the evening by taking just 76 minutes to dispose of Vesely 6-3, 7-5. Bouchard also reached the quarterfinals of last week’s Shenzhen Open.

Second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was untroubled as he beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-4, third seed John Isner overcame fellow American Sam Querrey7-6 (10-8), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 and fourth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson beat Robin Haase of the Netherlands, 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-5).