By Barry Wood
The top four seeds were in action on Day 1 of the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, and three of them emerged with victories.
Top seed Marion Bartoli has not felt her best in the past day or two and at times she looked rather pale, but she overcame that and a fast court that she doesn’t really like to defeat Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4 6-4. After taking the first set, though, the French number one had to fight hard to earn an advantage in the second. Three break points for a 1-0 lead were lost, and she had to wait until 4-4 until she made the vital breakthrough on her sixth break point of the set.
"I’m really happy to win in two sets," world number 12 Bartoli said. "I was quite happy with the level of the game. The conditions were pretty difficult because the court is very fast and it’s not easy to get used to it. There is only the one court and we are 12 players so you can’t get a lot of time to practise on it. And it’s the end of the year and everyone is tired so it’s not easy. But I’m really pleased to be part of this tournament. It’s a great one to finish the year and I will really try my best to finish well."
Second seeded Australian Samantha Stosur was playing doubles in Doha last weekend at the Sony Ericsson Championships, but she looked fresh after her long trip as she defeated Hungary’s Agnes Szavay 6-2 3-6 6-1. Want to know what happened? Stosur hit 10 aces and Szavay made 12 double-faults. That’s all the info you need on that one!
Belgium’s 20-year old Yanina Wickmayer reached the semi-finals of the US Open in September and is seeded three this week, and she was given quite a match by 39-year old Kimiko Date Krumm. But Wickmayer knew what to expect. Or thought she did. Date Krumm twice went up a break in the first set, for 1-0 and 4-3, only for Wickmayer to break straight back each time before sneaking the tiebreak 7-5. In the second set Date Krumm held three break points to lead 4-0, but Wickmayer fought back, held and then also won the next five games to claim victory. So, 7-6 6-3 to Wickmayer.
"Until 3-0 (in the second set) she was playing really well," said Wickmayer. "She was really aggressive and serving better and running everywhere. But I kept on thinking it’s only one break and I just needed to win her serve once and keep serving well. I tried to serve well and get into the court more the way she did and kept fighting for every point.
"She’s a really tough player, and I think this is one of her favourite surfaces where it goes really fast. She can take the ball really early. I knew I had to play my best tennis today to beat her and I’m really happy to beat her in two sets. I think she’s one of the fittest players on tour right now, and if she keeps playing for the next couple of years she’ll do really well."
There was one upset, and that was fourth seeded German Sabine Lisicki’s 1-6 6-3 6-4 defeat by Aravane Rezai of France.
The first set was all Lisicki as she broke for 2-0 with a great backhand winner, and then again for 5-1 when Rezai double-faulted. But things turned around in the second, with Rezai’s break for 2-0 enough to earn her the set. In the third Rezai broke for 1-0, and although Lisicki leveled at 2-2 she double-faulted on break point in the next game to give Rezai a 3-2 lead. Both players had more break opportunities, but that’s the way it stayed.
"It was very difficult at the beginning because she’s a very tough player, hitting the ball very strong and fast," said Rezai, who lost to Lisicki recently in the first round of the US Open. "After the first set I had some advice from my coach. He told me to be stronger and to fight. It was tough, but I told myself it’s my last chance and I had to win the second set or it was too late. I tried to play more intelligent and to move her side to side and not miss my first serve."
And she loves being in Bali.
"Everything is very perfect. For me it’s a little bit strange that there’s no doubles lines (on the court), but it’s okay. I didn’t have any problem. The people are nice, the court is perfect and everything is great. Everything is great. I love it here. I didn’t have time to be at the beach yet but I will for sure. People are so nice here that I feel I’m at home."
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. I was soo looking forward to her being in the top 10 
