Simona Halep is not exactly a household name in Australia.

But it may well be by the end of the month if the Romanian tennis revelation opens the 2014 season the way she ended the last.

After a ho-hum first half of the year, Halep went nuts, winning 43 of her last 51 matches and amassing six titles – second only to world No.1 Serena Williams – to end the year on the cusp of the world’s top 10.

It earned Halep the WTA’s newcomer of the year award and star billing at next week’s Sydney International.

“It was a good year for me. I didn’t expect that,” Halep said on Saturday.

“I won good matches with good players and now it will be difficult this year because I have to defend all the points.

“But I just want to enjoy and play with pleasure, like last year.”

Make no mistake, though, the modest youngster looms as more than a dark horse at the Australian Open with Halep nominating the majors as her priority in 2014.

“My objective is to stay top 20 and I want to play good at the grand slams,” the world No.11 said after drawing American Madison Keys in the first round of the Sydney International.

Halep is seeded seventh in Sydney, with six of the world’s top 10 completing their Open preparations at the event.

Top-seeded titleholder Agnieszka Radwanska and second seed Petra Kvitova both have first-round byes.

Third seed Sara Errani faces her compatriot and doubles partner Roberta Vinci first up, fourth seed Jelena Jankovic plays Ekaterina Makarova, fifth seed Angelique Kerber meets Dominika Cibulkova and sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki eases into the tournament against a qualifier following her New Year’s Eve engagement to golf superstar Rory McIlroy.

Australian wildcard Jarmila Gajdosova also drew a qualifier on Saturday.