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Posted at 10:59 a.m., Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Tennis: Safina advances at Generali Ladies

Associated Press

LINZ, Austria — Dinara Safina defeated Karin Knapp 6-2, 6-2 today to reach the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies.

The fourth-seeded Russian had 17 winners from the baseline and broke the Italian twice in each set.

"From the start, I put a lot of pressure on Karin so she could not find her normal game," Safina said.

Seventh-seeded Tatiana Golovin trailed Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-4, 0-1 when she retired with an injured right knee. Golovin, who reached the final of the Zurich Open last Sunday, lost her serve three times in the first set.

Fifth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova rallied past Flavia Pennetta 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), and Tamira Paszek defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 7-5.

The 16-year-old Paszek plays third-seeded Marion Bartoli in the second round.

Vaidisova, who reached the semifinals of the Zurich Open last week, had 47 unforced errors and converted only three of 16 break points.

"Flavia is hard to beat, so I am proud that I won," Vaidisova said. "I'd never played before in this arena and had troubles adapting to the circumstances."

A break in the opening game was enough for Pennetta to win the first set. Vaidisova, who also defeated the Italian at this year's U.S. Open, had two breaks in the second to pull even.

The 14th-ranked Czech didn't score a point while serving for the match at 5-4, but wrapped up the win in the tiebreaker.