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Bartoli faces nemesis Peer at Bali tourney

Top seed Marion Bartoli may be up against a spoiler in her bid to win the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, with Israel's in-form Shahar Peer drawn in her round-robin group

Musthofid and Bruce Emond (The Jakarta Post)
Nusa Dua, Bali
Tue, November 3, 2009

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Bartoli faces nemesis Peer at Bali tourney

T

op seed Marion Bartoli may be up against a spoiler in her bid to win the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, with Israel's in-form Shahar Peer drawn in her round-robin group.

Peer, who was waylaid for almost two months earlier this year due to a stress fracture of her right foot, has good reason to be optimistic about her chances after Monday's draw for the 12-women indoor tournament. She holds a 6-1 winning record against Bartoli, with her most recent win over the Frenc woman at Indian Wells earlier this year.

"I have big chances. All of us have big chances here," said Peer, whose ranking has surged from 68 in mid-August to 31, thanks to back-to-back tournament victories at Guangzhou and Tashkent in September.

"It's a very short tournament so you have to be at your best. It's all open."

This year marks a new format for the annual women's tennis tournament in Bali.

The top 10 tour players who have won at least one international tournament during the year, and who did not qualify for the season-ending championships in Doha, have been invited to play, along with two wildcards, up-and-coming German teen Sabine Lisicki and Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm, who has returned to competitive play at age 39.

Winners from the four groups of three players advance to Saturday's semifinals, with a top prize of US$200,000 to Sunday's champion.

Bartoli, a 2006 finalist in Bali when the tournament was played on hard courts, is not taking her opposition lightly.

"It will be a difficult game," said the world No. 12, who triumphed at Monterrey and Stanford this year. "Everyone is coming here after winning a tournament. That gives them confidence."

Media attention has focused on Peer's participation in Bali due to the lack of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Israel.

There also was speculation that there might be a repeat of what happened when she did not receive a visa to play in Dubai earlier this year. But Jakarta granted her permission to play. Peer played down questions about security in her participation.

"The Indonesian government was very kind . I think that any time sports can help in a positive way with politics it's very important, and I'm happy to be a part of it," she said.

"I'm enjoying my time here and hope I keep enjoying it."

The fast improving Lisicki, who is in Group D with Melinda Czink of Hungary and Aravane Rezai of France, appears likely to earn a semifinal spot.

"You play higher ranked players and you want to beat them. That's what I'm going to do," said the world No. 25. "I played Rezai in US Open and I won in three sets."

In Group C, there is an intriguing matchup of the oldest and youngest players in the tournament, Date and Yanina Wickmayer, who recently turned 20.

The only Asian player in the tournament, Date, said she was surprised and happy to be awarded a wildcard, and was looking forward to the challenge.

"I'm the oldest and Yanina is the youngest. She is very nice. We practice together a lot," she said.

Drawing list

Group A
Marion Bartoli (ranked 12/Fra)
Shahar Peer (32/Isr*
Magdalena Rybarikova (46/Svk)

Group B
Samantha Stosur (13/Aus)
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (31/Esp)
Agnes Szavay (42/Hun)

Group C
Yanina Wickmayer (Bel/19)
Anabel Medina Garrigues (Esp/27)
Kimiko Date Krumm (Jpn/101)

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