Dinara Safina’s quest for the world’s No. 1 ranking looked in danger as she fought off three set points before beating Tina Pironkova 7-6 (8), 6-2 on Friday in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.
Safina can replace Serena Williams atop the WTA Tour rankings by reaching the final of this 12-day event. Williams, who beat the Russian in the Australian Open final six weeks ago, is not playing in the tournament.
Bulgarian Pironkova had three set points in the first-set tiebreaker before Safina asserted herself in the second set.
PHOTO: AP
“I’m just going to focus on myself at this tournament,” Safina said, “but that [No. 2] is the reward for the success that I’ve had this year. I’ve played in three tournaments and been in two finals. There is only one person in front of me and this is something big.”
Safina, who lost in the third round here the past two years, will face No. 28 seed Peng Shuai of China in the third round and will potentially have a semi-final against No. 4 seed Vera Zvonareva, a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan.
Amelie Mauresmo, coming back from yet another of the injuries that have plagued her in recent years, advanced to the third round with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany.
Mauresmo, No. 1 on the WTA Tour for a total of 39 weeks but out of the top 20 last season for the first time in 10 years, got her first tournament victory in two years by beating No. 3 Jelena Jankovic and No. 4 Elena Dementieva at the Paris Indoors. Her match against Groenefeld was her first since then.
The Frenchwoman, the No. 17 seed in this tournament, said the Paris win had an “unbelievable” effect on her confidence, even though it wasn’t reflected in Friday’s match, because “I was doubting my play, mostly physically, because I was really feeling either injured or not being able to really move the way I wanted.”
In 2007, Mauresmo missed four months of the season because of an emergency appendectomy and a groin strain and last year she was bothered by injuries to both thighs and her right rib cage.
Asked why she kept pushing herself at this stage of her career, she laughed and said: “I probably didn’t find the answer to this question. I found the answer to the other question, which was do I want to stop, which was no.”
“It was already quite a challenge when it happened in the summer of 2007, where I really asked myself whether I want to keep going or not,” she said. “I didn’t find the answer quickly. It took me a few months to really feel that for some reason, I don’t have enough.”
The seeded players in the women’s field began to play after their first-round byes.
Also advancing were No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka and No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki. But No. 10 Marion Bartoli of France lost to Shahar Peer of Israel, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5, and No. 13 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland bowed to Li Na of China, 7-5, 6-2.
None of the seeds in the men’s draw were in action, as they all receiving first-round byes.
It was a good day for the locals, with seven US men winning their matches to advance to the second round, including Sam Querrey and Taylor Dent.
Germany’s Michael Berrer beat South African Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round match against world’s No. 1 Rafael Nadal.
Argentina’s Martin Vassallo Arguello also beat a South African opponent, edging Rik de Voest 7-5, 7-6 (3) and will next face defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, seeded third.
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, the No. 5 seed, announced his withdrawal because of a left heel injury, putting his scheduled opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany directly into the third round.
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