Melbourne (AFP)

The Australian Ashleigh Barty, world 1, and the Japanese Naomi Osaka (N.3) had to work to qualify Wednesday for the quarterfinals of the preparation tournaments for the Australian Open but the N.2, Romanian Simona Halep qualified without difficulty.

In the Gippsland Trophy, Osaka lost the first set to Britain's Katie Boulter before recovering and winning the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

She will face the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu (79th) in the next round.

“It was really difficult for me today, it was like a new experience to play again after so long,” said the Japanese who won the Australian Open in 2019. “She played really, really. well and I had to raise my level of play, dig deep into myself, ”she added.

Boulter (371st in the world) had eliminated the American Coco Gauff in the previous round and took only 39 minutes to win the first set.

But Osaka set the record straight by easily winning the 3rd.

The Japanese player easily beat France's Alizé Cornet on Tuesday for her first game since winning the US Open in September and before Australia's start on February 8.

World 2nd Simona Halep easily triumphed over German Laura Siegemund 6-2, 6-4 and will face Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (33rd) in the quarterfinals who beat Polish Iga Swiatek 6-4, 6-2.

The 5th player in the world, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina was also hooked by the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko who won the Roland-Garros tournament in 2017, before winning 6-7 (7/4), 6-3 , 6-2.

She will face Belgian Elise Mertens (20th) in the quarterfinals, who eliminated French Caroline Garcia 7-6 (7/1), 6-3.

In the Yarra Valley tournament, World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty also struggled against Czech Marie Bouzkova but ultimately won the match 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.

"I lacked execution speed in the middle of the game but I'm glad I recovered at the end," she said after easily triumphing over Romania's Ana Bogdan in the previous round.

Barty, who is hoping to bring the National Open back to Australia for the first time in 43 years, will face world No.4 and defending champion Sofia Kenin in the quarterfinals.

The latter also struggled against her compatriot Jessica Pegula, abandoning the first set and finding herself down 4-1 in the second before recovering 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.

"I'm happy with the way I was able to get things right in the second set, I found my rhythm," she said.

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