Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Safina recovers to beat Makarova

AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 19 January-1 February
Coverage: BBC Red Button, BBC One & Two (including all Andy Murray matches), Radio 5 Live sports extra, BBC Sport website (Red Button coverage streamed on website throughout fortnight)

Dinara Safina
Safina suffered a scare at the hands of world number 49 Makarova

Third seed Dinara Safina recovered from a difficult first set to beat fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova and reach the last 32 of the Australian Open.

Safina trailed Makarova 5-2 at one point in the first set, eventually conceding it on a tie-break, but went on to win 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-0.

Serbian fifth seed Ana Ivanovic reached the third round with a straight-sets victory over Italy's Alberta Brianti.

Russian 10th seed Nadia Petrova defeated India's Sania Mirza 6-3 6-2.

World number one Jelena Jankovic will later face Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens, while Australian Jelena Dokic plays Russian Anna Chekvatadze in the Rod Laver Arena, as she continues her first Grand Slam main draw appearance since 2006.

When I lost the first set I raised my level and that's why I won quite easily after that

Dinara Safina
Safina, 22, increasingly stamped her authority on her match with the 20-year-old Makarova after surrendering the first set tie-break.

"She played a very good match. She gave me a hard time," said Safina.

"But when I lost the first set I raised my level and that's why I won quite easily after that."

Ivanovic conquered early trouble with her serve to come through against Brianti, who received treatment for back pain during the match.

The 21-year-old, beaten finalist at Melbourne last year, will now face either Russian Alisa Kleybanova or Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France.

Brianti received treatment from a trainer for a lower back injury when trailing 3-0 in the second set and took a medical time out.

She returned to break Ivanovic's service in the next game, but Ivanovic returned the favour in the seventh game and then served out the match.

"It took a long time but I was happy to keep my composure," said Ivanovic, who acknowledged that her serve had been causing her trouble.

"It's a lot of things mixed up. I try to take a bit more time. It was much better today."

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