Halep, Kvitova confirm Sydney spots

SimonaHalep

The Australian Open warm-up event in the Harbour City is a popular tournament for the world's best to tune up for the first major of the calendar year, with Halep, Petra Kvitova and 2013 champion Agnieszka Radwanska all confirming their places in the singles draw.

World number three Halep made the French Open final in 2014, and claimed titles in Doha and Bucharest in a successful season.

The diminutive Romanian started her year with a first-up loss to Madison Keys in Sydney, before bouncing back to reach the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park.

Halep said she was keen to play more matches prior to the hard-court major.

"I am so excited to be coming back to Sydney. The fans and atmosphere were amazing this year and it is an incredible city to play in," Halep said.

"Hopefully this time I will be able to do better and play at a high level. I haven't won a WTA tournament in Australia yet so it would be the perfect start to the year if I could win in Sydney.

"The tournament always has a very strong field with a lot of the top players choosing to play there so it will be a tough challenge but the perfect lead in to the Australian Open."

Czech left-hander Kvitova, ranked fourth, and Poland's Radwanska - the world number six - will also be hungry to build form for the grand slam.

Kvitova sealed a second Wimbledon title in 2014, but has only twice passed the second round in Melbourne in six attempts - reaching the semi-finals in 2012.

Radwanska reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park on the back of her Sydney title in 2013, and improved in January - making the final-four for just her third career major semi.

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