Safina advances to Cincinnati Open's 3rd round

Safina advances to Cincinnati Open's 3rd round

Dinara Safina of Russia, serves to Roberta Vinci of Italy, during their second round match of the 2009 Cincinnati Women's Open tennis tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 12, 2009.

BEIJING, Aug. 12 -- Current world No.1 Dinara Safina won over 55th-ranked Italian Roberta Vinci 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the third round of Cincinnati Open, according to reports on Wednesday.

The Russian, who entered in her 17th consecutive week as a top-ranked world player, didn't feel well at the beginning of the match. "It was a day when nothing was going," Safina told the reporters, "Everything was going all over the place...So I just accepted it. I thought that if I lose I just have to forget this match as soon as possible, because it makes no sense. It's not me, not my normal game." She dropped the first set 2-6.

Safina called for her coach and after a quick consultation, things began to change for her and then she came up with a service break with Vinci serving for the match in the second set at 5-4. She won three straight games to force a third set, then put Vinci away 6-4 in the deciding set. Safina hurt herself with 48 unforced errors, including 10 double faults.

Safina's next opponent would be either Chinese Peng Shuai, who ousted Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-1, or Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who defeated Russian Vera Dushevina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

(Agencies)