Safina books third-round berth at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, California: World number two Dinara Safina led the way into the third round of the 4.5 million-dollar ATP Masters and WTA hardcourt tournament Friday as seeded players swung into action.

The Russian top seed, opening her campaign after a first-round bye, beat Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 7-6 (10/8), 6-2 to line up a meeting with 28th-seeded Peng Shuai of China, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 winner over Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

Safina, 22, was trounced by Serena Williams in the Australian Open final in January, and was unceremoniously ousted in the first round at Dubai in February.

But with neither Serena nor her sister Venus entered here, Safina now has her eye on supplanting Serena atop the world rankings.

Among those standing in Safina's way in the top half of the draw here is fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, the sixth seed who was runner-up to Serbian Ana Ivanovic here last year.

Kuznetsova was to open her campaign on Friday night against Polish wildcard Urszula Radwanska.

Fourth-seeded Vera Zvonareva was also in action, taking on Chan Yung-Jan of Taiwan.

Eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, while ninth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky.

Former world number one Amelie Mauresmo battled to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

The French veteran, seeded 17th and ranked 20th in the world, ended a two-year victory drought when she won the Paris Open title last month.

Against Groenefeld, however, Mauresmo had her problems. She trailed 1-3 in the third set before reeling off four straight games, finally sealing the victory after three hours.

Serbian stars Jelena Jankovic and Ivanovic are scheduled to open their campaigns on Saturday, as is third-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva.

Jankovic, the second seed, will play Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a night match.

Ivanovic, the fifth seed, launches her defense of the title against Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus and Dementieva plays Czech Petra Cetkovska.

Men's seeds also begin play on Saturday, with world number two and second seed Roger Federer taking on France's Marc Gicquel, while fourth-seeded Briton Andy Murray faces Albert Montanes.

World number one Rafael Nadal of Spain and third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic - the defending champion - will launch their bids on Sunday.