Serena Williams reclaims No. 1 ranking with second-round win at China Open

Serena wins at China Open to reclaim No. 1 ranking

BEIJING — Serena Williams reclaimed her world No. 1 ranking with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova in the second round of the China Open on Tuesday.

“It feels pretty good. I’m really excited, I guess. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, but I’m obviously happy to be there because I feel like I’ve been working so hard all year and, just happy to be back,” said the American, who has spent a total of 72 weeks at No. 1, including from Feb. 2 to Apr. 19 this year.

Based on pre-tournament calculations, Williams moves to the top ranking by finishing better than current No. 1 Dinara Safina at the tournament. Safina lost to local wild card entry Zhang Shuai in the second round on Monday.

The WTA reported that Safina’s upset loss made No. 226 Zhang the lowest ranked woman ever to defeat a world No. 1. Frenchwoman Julie Coin held the previous record, having a No. 188 ranking when she beat then No. 1 Ana Ivanovic at last year’s U.S. Open.

“I would like to take some break now … I’m very upset with myself,” Safina said.

Williams, who turned 28 last month, needed just over one hour for the relaxed victory in which she fired three aces and conceded just one double fault. She said her focus for the rest of the year would be the WTA Tour Championships in Doha at the end of October.

“This a tough part of the year. It’s kind of toward the end and everbody’s bodies are starting to ache, you’re really fighting and you just do your best,” Williams said.

While Safina has said she isn’t overly concerned with her ranking, she has come under fire for failing to win a grand slam — Williams has won 11 titles — and a recent spate of poor results has clearly hit her hard.

Former world No. 1 Maria Sharapova rallied to keep her impressive comeback alive with a thrilling 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5 win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Sharapova, who last week won the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo for her first tournament victory since returning from a 10-month injury layoff, recovered from a 2-5 deficit in the final set, winning five games in a row as ninth-ranked Azarenka struggled to find a response.

After winning the second set tiebreak, a confident Azarenka broke Sharapova three times to take a commanding lead. The tide turned in game eight, when Sharapova won a break of her own and then made a stand that proved too much for Azarenka.

“I realized I certainly don’t want to be going home. I don’t want to be leaving China that soon, so I just went for it,” Sharapova said. “I kept being aggressive and I stayed positive. I think that gets you a long way,” she said.

Defending women’s champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia lost to China’s Peng Shuai 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, in a further setback for her chances to make the Doha championships. She is currently No. 8 in the rankings and only the top eight qualify.

Jankovic was forced to retire in the first set of the Tokyo final last week and said her arm and wrist injuries continue to bother her, especially after being taken to a third set.

“I couldn’t hit the ball hard enough,” she said.

Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva enjoyed an easy 6-4, 6-3 win over Melinda Czink of the Czech Republic.

In men’s play, defending champion Andy Roddick crashed out in straight sets against Polish qualifier Lucasz Kubot, 6-2, 6-4.

“I was trying stuff out there and nothing seemed to be working too well,” the American said.

Safina’s older brother Marat Safin received enthusiastic support from the Chinese fans on his way to a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win over Jose Acasuso of Argentina.

Winner of the inaugural China Open in 2004, two-time Grand Slam winner Safin is making his final appearance at the event after announcing plans to retire at the end of the year.

American James Blake downed Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in another first-round match, while No. 2 Rafael Nadal was to play Cypriot wild card Marcos Baghdatis later Tuesday.