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Kerber, Halep start with wins
- Updated: October 23, 2016
Top seed Angelique Kerber made a successful start to her WTA Finals campaign after a hard-fought baseline tussle with Dominika Cibulkova in Singapore.
Kerber, a dual Grand Slam winner this year, eventually prevailed 7-6 2-6 6-3, and there was also an opening day win for World No 4 Simona Halep, who beat Madison Keys 6-2 6-4.
Cibulkova won her third title of the year in Linz earlier this month but made a nervy start on her debut at the end-of-season WTA showpiece, opening with a double-fault and quickly falling a break down.
But she soon found her feet and the duo combined to produce a high-quality first set, which Kerber eventually won 7-5 on a tie-break.
Cibulkova remained on song though and powered into a 4-0 lead at the start of set two before going on to force a decider.
However, with both players beginning to tire, the resilience of Kerber proved decisive and she came back from an early break in the final set, winning four games in a row …
