Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova notched a round-robin victory Tuesday at the $750,000 WTA Tournament of Champions.
The diminutive second seed swept past heavy Bulgarian crowd favorite Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) on the indoor hardcourts at Armeets Arena.
Cibulkova (1-0) heads up this week's Sredets Group, which also includes fourth-seeded Andrea Petkovic, fifth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro and Pironkova (0-1). The four-woman Serdika Group features top-seeded Ekaterina Makarova, third-seeded Flavia Pennetta, sixth-seeded Alize Cornet and seventh-seeded Garbine Muguruza.
This eight-player season-ending tournament is for players who have won one or more of the WTA International events during the year but did not qualify for the WTA Finals, which was staged last week in Singapore.
This six-year-old event will move to Zhuhai, China, next year after a three- year run in Sofia.
Simona Halep beat Samantha Stosur in last year's Tournament of Champions finale.
[SportsNetwork.com]
