Serena Williams, Safina into Sydney quarterfinals
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
SYDNEY, Jan 12 (AP): Top-ranked Serena Williams opened her season with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez to reach the quarterfinals at a Sydney International where other seeded players have struggled in the opening rounds.
No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova was defeated 7-5, 6-2 by Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova on Tuesday, joining fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, No. 7 Jelena Jankovic and No. 8 Vera Zvonareva as losers in the first two rounds.
Second-seeded Dinara Safina struggled in her first set since she quit with a back injury at the season-ending championships in October, losing the opening five games before rebounding to win nine straight in a 7-5, 6-4 win over Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Elena Vesnina, who advanced from the first round when Zvonareva retired hurt on Monday, lost 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday to Vera Dushevina, who now plays Williams in the quarterfinals.
Williams is using the Sydney tournament as her main warmup for first major of the season, which starts next Monday in Melbourne. She had a bye in the first round and spent only 1 hour, 12 minutes on court against Martinez Sanchez.
Safina spent 1:47 on court and dropped serve five times in a struggle against No. 10-ranked Radwanska. Despite the slow start, she said the back inflammation which restricted her training until the middle of last month didn't cause her any concerns in Sydney. "I was 5-love down, but the only problem was I was missing everything - everything was flying all over the place," Safina said. "So once I win a game, I'm like, 'OK, let's start like this. "Once it clicked, it started to be better."
In men's first-round matches, sixth-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia advanced over Frenchman Florent Serra 7-6 (5), 6-4 and No. 8 Benjamin Becker had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.
American Sam Querrey, seeded fifth, lost 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to Russia's Evgeny Korolev.
No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova was defeated 7-5, 6-2 by Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova on Tuesday, joining fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, No. 7 Jelena Jankovic and No. 8 Vera Zvonareva as losers in the first two rounds.
Second-seeded Dinara Safina struggled in her first set since she quit with a back injury at the season-ending championships in October, losing the opening five games before rebounding to win nine straight in a 7-5, 6-4 win over Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland. Elena Vesnina, who advanced from the first round when Zvonareva retired hurt on Monday, lost 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday to Vera Dushevina, who now plays Williams in the quarterfinals.
Williams is using the Sydney tournament as her main warmup for first major of the season, which starts next Monday in Melbourne. She had a bye in the first round and spent only 1 hour, 12 minutes on court against Martinez Sanchez.
Safina spent 1:47 on court and dropped serve five times in a struggle against No. 10-ranked Radwanska. Despite the slow start, she said the back inflammation which restricted her training until the middle of last month didn't cause her any concerns in Sydney. "I was 5-love down, but the only problem was I was missing everything - everything was flying all over the place," Safina said. "So once I win a game, I'm like, 'OK, let's start like this. "Once it clicked, it started to be better."
In men's first-round matches, sixth-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia advanced over Frenchman Florent Serra 7-6 (5), 6-4 and No. 8 Benjamin Becker had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.
American Sam Querrey, seeded fifth, lost 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to Russia's Evgeny Korolev.