Muguruza whips Makarova at TOC

Published February 05, 2015

Sofia, Bulgaria (SportsNetwork.com) - Rising young Spaniard Garbine Muguruza upset top seed Ekaterina Makarova of Russia in Wednesday's round- robin action at the $750,000 WTA Tournament of Champions.

The seventh-seeded 21-year-old Muguruza mauled the U.S. Open semifinalist Makarova 6-2, 6-1 in 69 minutes on the indoor hardcourt at Armeets Arena.

Meanwhile, second-seeded Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia topped fifth-seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-4 and fourth-seeded German Andrea Petkovic handled eighth-seeded Bulgarian crowd favorite Tsvetana Pironkova 7-5, 6-2.

This eight-player season-ending tournament is for players who have won one or more of the WTA International events during the year but did not qualify for the WTA Finals, which was staged last week in Singapore.

The four-woman Serdika Group features Makarova (0-1), third-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta (1-0), sixth-seeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet (0-1) and Muguruza (1-0). Cibulkova (2-0) heads up the Sredets Group, which also includes Petkovic (1-1), Suarez Navarro (1-1) and Pironkova (0-2).

Thursday's round-robin affairs will pit Makarova against Cornet, Cibulkova versus Petkovic and Pennetta against Muguruza.

This six-year-old event will move to Zhuhai, China, next year after a three- year run in Sofia.

URL

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