Bali, Indonesia - Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli returned to Bali for the first time in three years and started her week at the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions with a resounding first group victory Wednesday. The top-seeded losing finalist at this tropical resort in 2006 against Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova took a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.
Following the winning example were second seed Samantha Stosur, who shook off the time change from doubles play last week at the top- level WTA championships in Doha to defeat Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6- 2, 3-6, 6-1.
Belgian US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer, seeded third, defeated an opponent 19 years older with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 result over Kimiko Date Krumm.
The 39-year-old Japanese, who retired once in the mid-1990s but came back to tennis two years ago, qualified for the Championships with a title this autumn in Seoul.
Aravane Rezai took the day's second win for France, defeating German fourth seed Sabine Lisicki 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The event is composed of the 10 highest ranking players who have won a WTA International title during 2009 and did not compete in the season-ending WTA Championships in Qatar last week. Two wild cards (Date Krumm and Lisicki) are also included.
Bartoli is looking for end-of-season success after just missing out on a Doha place. "It's the end of the year and everyone is tired so it's not easy.
"I'm really happy to win in two sets," said the 2007 Wimbledon finalist. "I was quite happy with the level of the game.
"Conditions were pretty difficult. 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," she said of a venue set inside a massive hotel ballroom in the heavily secured Nusa Dua area.
Stosur earned her victory with just a day to get used to the change from the Gulf to Indonesia, firing ten aces in victory over Szavay, who was hindered by 12 double-faults.
Wickmayer, aged 20, was surprised by the force of Date Krumm, at 39 starting a second career in the sport with lower-level ITF titles in Tokyo and Monzon, Spain, in 2008 followed by the Seoul trophy in September to qualify for Bali.
The Japanese led twice in the first set only to lose her breaks. She also held three break points to lead 4-0 in the second before Wickmayer stopped the rot with five consecutive winning games to victory.
"I knew I had to play my best tennis today to beat her, I'm really happy to beat her in two sets. 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."
