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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tennis: Safina rallies past Vinci in Cincinnati Open


Associated Press

MASON, Ohio — Top-ranked Dinara Safina rallied past unseeded Roberta Vinci 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 Tuesday to advance to the third round of the Cincinnati Open.

Safina, who entered in her 17th consecutive week at No. 1, came up with a service break with Vinci serving for the match in the second set. She had another break in the third to close out the match.
Safina had 48 unforced errors to Vinci’s 28.
Earlier, qualifier Yanina Wickmayer upset Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4.
The 56th-ranked Wickmayer became the third qualifier to reach the second round with her upset of the 26th-ranked Schiavone. Wickmayer believed playing the qualifier gave her an advantage.
The 19-year-old Belgian is also Kim Clijsters’ doubles partner.
“I think my advantage today was I had a few matches in my legs already,” Wickmayer said.
Also Tuesday, unseeded Alona Bondarenko upset 10th-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-2, 6-3, and 15th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova fell to unseeded Shuai Peng 6-2, 6-1. Flavia Pennetta defeated qualifier Ayumi Morita 6-2, 6-3.
Agnes Szavay edged qualifier Urszula Radwanska 7-5, 7-5, and Sorana Cirstea eliminated wild-card Meghann Shaughnessy by the same score.
Daniela Hantuchova outlasted Sara Errani 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, Alisa Kleybanova topped Aravane Rezai 6-3, 6-3, and wild-card Maria Kirilenko defeated qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 6-1.