Best Bulgarian female tennis player Tsvetana Pironkova won her first WTA title in her professional tennis career. Last week the Bulgarian athlete scored eight consecutive victories on her road to the trophy in Sydney. She defeated 6:4; 6:4 the No 9 seeded Angelique Kerber from Germany at the final. Earlier, Pironkova won against world’s No 6 Petra Kvitova (the Czech Republic) as well as against Italian tennis player Sara Errani who currently places 7^th in the world rankings. Due to her success at the Sidney tournament, Pironkova jumped by 50 positions in the world rankings and currently places 57^th. In the first round of the Australian Open which kicked off Monday (January 13) Tsvetana Pironkova defeated 2:0 sets Silvia-Soler Espinosa (Spain).

Bulgaria’s best male tennis player Grigor Dimitrov is to start the Australian Open tournament with a match against 23- year-old US athlete Bradley Klahn who currently places 97^th in the world rankings. Before the start of the prestigious Australian Open tennis tournament Grigor Dimitrov equaled his best position in the ATP rankings. Grigor is back to No 22 after his good performance at the tennis exhibition in Kooyong which is held annually right before the Australian Open.

Alexandra Zhekova continues with her successful performance at the Snowboard World Cup. Last week in Andorra, Zhekova covered the qualifiers at the cross event and placed second after Canadian star Dominique Maltais, followed by Lindsey Jacobellis (USA). Zhekova currently places fifth in the world rankings with a total of 1,300 points. Maltais is the current leader with 2,600 points, followed by Jacobellis. The snowboard competition in Andorra was the last event for the 26- year-old Bulgarian athlete before the start of the Winter Olympics in Sochi in the beginning of February.

Bulgarian Under-20 ice hockey team lost 2:3 (1:0; 0:2; 1:1) against the hosts from Turkey its first match at the IIHF Under-20 Division Ice Hockey World Cup in Izmir. Bulgaria shares one group with Belgium, New Zealand, Mexico, the Republic of South Africa and Turkey. On Monday the team coached by Martin Milanov plays against Mexico.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov