Bulgaria's Pironkova Loses to Russia's Petrova at Tournament of Champions

Bulgaria's Pironkova during her last match in the group phase of the Sofia Tournament of Champions against Russian Nadia Petrova. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's top female tennis player Tsvetana Pironkova has registered her second loss at the Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions in Sofia.

Pironkova lost Friday night in Sofia's Armeets Arena to second-seeded Nadia Petrova from Russia 7:5, 1:6, 3:6 after 2 hours and 9 minutes.

Pironkova won the first set but then Petrova gained momentum managing to reverse the score.

Petrova and eighth-seeded Pironkova met for the Sredetz group title Friday with the winner going against Vinci in Saturday's semifinals and the loser drawing Caroline Wozniacki.

Pironkova had already secured a place in the semi-finals at Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions in advance after Russia's Maria Kirilenko withdrew from the tournament on Thursday, citing an upper respiratory illness.

The tournament in Sofia featured eight tennis players, two of whom received a "wild card" - the best Bulgarian female tennis star Tsvetana Pironkova and Russian Maria Kirilenko, who is No. 15 in the rankings.

Caroline Wozniacki, who began this year as Number one in the WTA rankings, is the group leader due to her high ranking in WTA, currently at No. 11.

The 2012 WTA Tournament of Champions is a singles-only tennis tournament that will be played on indoor hard courts in Sofia. It is the fourth edition of the tournament and is part of the 2012 WTA Tour.

The 2012 edition is the first to be held in 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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