Safina wins first match as No. 1
STUTTGART, Germany -- Dinara Safina turned her first match as No. 1 in the world into a rout, overwhelming Sara Errani 6-0, 6-1 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Porsche Grand Prix.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? Safina, who is in the second week as the top-ranked player on the WTA Tour, won the first nine games and finished the match with an ace in 51 minutes. She finished with five aces and never faced a break point.
"I was quite nervous before the match, I tried to do everything right," Safina said. "I stayed focused and everything went according to plan."
It was also Safina's first match of the year on clay. The tournament is the first on the WTA circuit to be played on indoor clay and is a warm-up for next month's French Open. Six of the top 10 players are competing.
"It was a good match, but I still feel I can do a lot better," Safina said.
Second-seeded Elena Dementieva also advanced by beating Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The Russian, who won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing last year, broke serve for a decisive 3-1 lead in the final set after dropping the second.
"It was a difficult match to play, with lots of ups and downs," Dementieva said. "I lost my concentration in the second set."
Dementieva wasted a 3-1 lead in the second and lost five straight games. Facing a set point, Dementieva fired a good serve. Groenefeld managed to get her racket on it and the ball fell just inside Dementieva's half and she was unable to put it back.
But Dementieva raised her game again in the final set and the German was unable to pull off an upset.
"The first match is always difficult to play. I hope to play better in the next," said Dementieva, who is now 2-0 against the German.
Seventh-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark beat Iveta Benesova 6-3, 7-5 and eight-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland also advanced, beating Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 7-6 (2), 6-0.
In a match that saw 12 breaks of serve, Wozniacki had the last one to go up 6-5 in the final set. She double-faulted on her second match point but her Czech opponent then hit a shot long to end the match.
"I am happy I pulled through. I didn't give up," said Wozniacki, who is now 2-0 against Benesova.
Marion Bartoli of France beat qualifier Karolina Sprem of Croatia 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 after overcoming stomach muscle problems in the second set.
Four other unseeded players also advanced. Li Na defeated Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 6-3; Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria rallied to beat Alberta Brianti of Italy 0-6, 6-4, 6-4; Agnes Szavay of Hungary defeated Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (4); and Gisela Dulko of Argentina beat Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
