Pironkova Victorious at Start of WTA Tournament of Champions

Pironkova (pictured) delighted the home crowd on Tuesday, as she defeated sixth-seeded Chinese Zheng Jie 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7). Photo by dnevnik.bg

Bulgarian tennis player Tsvetana Pironkova delighted the home crowd on Tuesday, as she defeated sixth-seeded Chinese Zheng Jie 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) at the start of the WTA Tournament of Champions in Sofia.

Pironkova overcame the world No. 21 in a dramatic game that lasted no less than 170 minutes.

On Wednesday, the Bulgarian will face third-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia.

The Tournament of Champions is the finale for the WTA's International Series, with the six highest-ranked players who have won an International title this year -- and two wild cards -- comprising the eight-woman field. The four- player Serdika Group features Caroline Wozniacki (1-0), RobertaVinci (1-0), Su-Wei Hsieh (0-1) and Daniela Hantuchova (0-1), while the four-player Sredets Group features Nadia Petrova (0-0), Kirilenko (0-0), Zheng (0-1) and Pironkova (1-0).

The 2012 edition is the first to be held in Bulgaria's capital Sofia, having been relocated from Bali, where the tournament was held for the previous three years and called the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions.

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