Safina reaches 2nd round in L.A., starting bid for repeat title

Safina, seeking LA repeat, advances to 2nd round

CARSON, Calif. — Dinara Safina started her bid for a second straight Los Angeles Women’s Tennis Championships title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Daniela Hantuchova on Wednesday.

Safina, 23, who used last year’s championship as a springboard that took her to No. 1 on April 20, grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first set, got another service break to go up 5-2, and won it on her third set point after going to deuce five times.

In the second set, Safina got the last of her five service breaks to take a 4-3 lead and finished the 89-minute match in routine fashion. It was Safina’s fifth win in eight matches against Hantuchova and her third win without a loss this year.

“It was a good match,” Safina said after the win that earned her a spot in the season-ending championships in Qatar. “I feel I can improve. It was a solid match. I didn’t do anything spectacular. We play the same way, so it depends on who’s going to take charge of the points, and I think at the crucial times I was more aggressive today.”

Third-seeded Victoria Azarenka was scheduled to meet Maria Sharapova, and No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki was due to face Sorana Cirstea in matches Wednesday night.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva advanced with a three-set win over Shuai Peng late Tuesday night and will face Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer in the third round. Wickmayer beat American qualifier Jill Craybas, 7-6 (2), 6-1 on Wednesday.

She was joined in the third round by No. 5 seed Nadia Petrova, a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 winner over Shahar Peer.

In other matches, No. 8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Ai Sugiyama 6-2, 6-1; No. 10 seed Flavia Pennetta eliminated young American wild card Coco Vandeweghe 6-2, 6-4; No. 13 Samantha Stosu topped Maria Kirilenko 6-2, 6-4; and No. 14 Jie Zhgeng beat Elena Vesnina 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to set up a third-round match with Safina.