THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia — Top-ranked Serena Williams opened her season with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez to reach the quarter-finals at the Sydney International on Tuesday.
No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 7-5, 6-2 to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, joining fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, No. 7 Jelena Jankovic and No. 8 Vera Zvonareva among the prominent players eliminated in the first two rounds.
Second-seeded Dinara Safina struggled in her first set since a back injury forced her out of 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 Monday when Zvonareva retired with an injury, lost 6-3, 6-4 to Vera Dushevina, who now plays Williams in the quarter-finals.
Williams is using the Sydney tournament as her main warmup for the Australian Open. The first major of the season starts next Monday in Melbourne.
She had a bye in the first round and spent only one hour 12 minutes on court against Martinez Sanchez.
Safina 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."
Safina saved a set point in the first before breaking Radwanska in the match-turning 10th game, and was satisfied with her comeback.
"I mean, it’s the first match of the year. If you start to cry in the first game of first match, then what can happen when it’s going to be the end of the season?" she said. "It was 20 minutes and 5-love. I thought, ‘OK, at least try to stay a little bit longer on the court."’
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 posted 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.