Angelique Kerber battles past Dominika Cibulkova

Fifth seed Angelique Kerber has defeated Dominika Cibulkova 7-6(5) 7-5 in the first round of the Sydney International.

The pair battled for just over two hours on the Grandstand Court, with the German proving just too strong for the Czech.

Both players broke twice as the first set went to a tie-breaker, which Kerber clinched 7-5 to take the lead.

The 25-year-old sealed the second set 7-5 to set up a meeting with Estonia's Kaia Kanepi in the next round.