SPORTS

PONTE VEDRA: Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-1, 6-4 in the opening round of the WTA MPS Group Championships on Monday.

Cibulkova, who is seeded third, broke Czink four times in four attempts and won 69 percent of her first-serve points. She won just 32 percent of her first-return points.

In other first-round matches, fifth-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated her Russian compatriate Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 5-7, 6-4; Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia beat American Jill Craybas 6-1, 6-4; and Swede Sofia Arvidsson easily beat American Carly Gullickson 6-0, 6-2.