By JEREMY LAST
Shahar Pe'er will face Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova in her first group stage match of the end of season Tournament of Champions in Bali on Thursday.
Rybarikova, 46 in the world, was defeated 6-4, 6-4 by top-ranked Marion Bartoli on Wednesday in the first Group A match.
The tournament features the ten highest ranked players who have captured at least one international tournament this year and did not play in last week's Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, plus two wildcards.
Pe'er, ranked 31 in the world, will complete her group stage when she faces world number 12 Bartoli on Friday.
"I have big chances. All of us have big chances here," said Peer who won in Guangzhou and Tashkent in September to qualify for the event in Indonesia.
"It's a very short tournament so you have to be at your best. It's all open."
The 12 players are split into four groups, with the group winners qualifying for Saturday's semifinals aiming to win the $200,000 first prize.
Bartoli was delighted with her victory over Rybarikova. "I'm really happy to win in two sets," she said.
"I was quite happy with the level of the game. The conditions were pretty difficult because 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. And it's the end of the year and everyone is tired so it's not easy. But I'm really pleased to be part of this tournament. It's a great one to finish the year and I will really try my best to finish well."
Also Wednesday, second seeded Australian Samantha Stosur defeated Hungary's Agnes Szavay 6-2 3-6 6-1. Stosur hit 10 aces during the match and Szavay made 12 double-faults.
There was one upset on Wednesday, when fourth seeded German Sabine Lisicki's lost. 1-6 6-3 6-4 to Aravane Rezai of France
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store