Dominika Cibulkova, Carla Suarez Navarro and Flavia Pennetta were straight-sets winners at the start of the season-ending WTA Tournament of Champions on Tuesday.
Second seed Cibulkova of Slovakia beat No. 8 seed Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 7-6 (6) in round-robin play in the Sredets Group.
Cibulkova was down 3-2 in the first set, but won the next four straight games to take the set. Bulgaria’s Pironkova tried to rally in the second by going up two breaks at 4-1, but the Slovak hit back and won 12 of the next 13 points, with the set decided in a tie-break.
Cibulkova said she was happy with her game because she employed “the right tactics,” but added that “everyone who is here is a good player, so I just have to keep doing the right thing to keep winning.”
In the group’s other match, Spain’s Suarez Navarro overcame fourth-seeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-0, 6-4. The Spanish star needed just 30 minutes to take the first set without surrendering a game mostly thanks to her outstanding one-handed backhand.
In the second, she broke twice for a 5-2 lead before Petkovic rallied for a comeback, getting to 5-4, but Suarez Navarro ultimately served out to seal the set at 6-4.
“The first match is never easy and I’m happy with my performance,” Suarez Navarro said.
Suarez Navarro’s win was her 50th WTA match victory of the year, making her only the third player to reach the 50-mark this year, after Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic (58 wins) and the US’ Serena Williams (52).
In the Serdika Group opener, Italian third seed Pennetta eased to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over France’s Alize Cornet, who had to take a medical time-out over an injured finger.
“I was really focused and consistent,” Pennetta said. “I’m very much looking forward to my next match on Thursday [today].”
YINZHOU INTERNATIONAL
By Dave Carroll
Staff reporter
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei had to come from a set down to make the second round of the Yinzhou Bank International tournament in Ningbo, China, yesterday.
Hsieh saved three of eight break-point chances and converted nine of 18 to defeat Hong Kong’s Zhang Lin in 1 hour, 35 minutes and set up a second-round clash with China’s Zheng Saisai today.
In the quarter-finals of the doubles, third-seeded Taiwanese duo Chan Chin-wei and Chuang Chia-jung saved six of seven break-point chances and converted five of nine as they cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Poland’s Paula Kania and Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova in 57 minutes.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier