Tournament's top seed Angelique Kerber had a hard time beating seventh-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia with a 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3 victory on the opening day of the 2016 BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore on Sunday.

According to ESPN, the current world No. 1 women's singles German player held out Cibulkova for two hours and 17 minutes before finally scoring the win of the round-robin portion of the tourney.

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"It was a really good match from both of us, especially the first set," this year's Australian Open and US Open winner said. "It's a good start to the tournament like this, where you knew you had to play your best to win."

Kerber, who has never advanced beyond the round-robin stage of the WTA Tour Championships, registered 29 wins and 32 unforced errors, while Cibulkova posted 36 wins and 34 unforced errors.

Kerber is on her fourth appearance in the prestigious tennis event following her participation in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Cibulkova, who is competing for her first WTA Finals, allowed Kerber to build an early 4-2 advantage in the first set after losing the opening game of the match.

However, the 28-year-old native of Bremen, West Germany did not hold on to the advantage after committing her second double-fault during the eighth game. Cibulkova managed to force a tie-breaker after winning the next game, but Kerber eventually prevailed.

In the second set, Cibulkova easily outplayed Kerber and was on an early lead during the third set. However the Slovakian tennis ace lost five of the next six games that leave Kerber heading for the victory.

Kerber will be playing the third seed Simona Halep of Romania on Tuesday, while Cibulkova will face sixth seed Madison Keys of the United States.

Kerber and Halep both belong in the Red Group and currently own a record of one victory each. Halep defeated Keys with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph.

TagsAngelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Madison Keys, dominika cibulkova, wta finals, wta rankings