Dinara Safina advances to 4th round of Australian Open; Jankovic loses to Bondarenko

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Safina advances, Jankovic out of Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia — Dinara Safina advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday, winning her first match on the major’s marquee court since her lopsided loss to Serena Williams in last year’s final.

Jelena Jankovic just keeps running into trouble at the Grand Slams.

Second-seeded Safina beat Britain’s Elena Baltacha 6-1, 6-2 in her return to Rod Laver Arena and eighth-seeded Jankovic was upset by No. 31 Alona Bondarenko, falling 6-2, 6-3 for her first loss in 10 meetings with the Ukraine player.

Both Safina and Jankovic have held the No. 1 ranking, but neither has won a Grand Slam singles title. Only Safina, who has been a runner-up three times, can make that breakthrough here.

“I’m happy to be back here in Rod Laver, I didn’t have too many good memories from last year so I turned it around and tried to forget the bad memories,” said Safina, the younger sister of 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin.

“I had some unbelievable matches here in Rod Laver: dramas, fighting, running,” she recalled of the happier times in her run to the 2009 final.

Jankovic made 40 unforced errors against 13 winners. She hasn’t gone beyond the fourth round at any of the majors since she lost the 2008 U.S. Open final — her only championship match at a major. She lost the No. 1 ranking after her fourth-round exit here last year.

Two other former No. 1-ranked players, both from Belgium and both on the comeback from retirement, were in action later Friday. Justine Henin played Alisa Kleybonova immediately after Jankovic on Hisense Arena and U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters had a night match.

Men’s defending champion Rafael Nadal was playing Philipp Kohlschreiber in a night match at Rod Laver.

Roger Federer, the king of tennis, met Britain’s Prince William on the same court the previous evening. After Federer dispatched Victor Hanescu 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in 99 minutes Thursday, on-court interviewer Jim Courier invited the top-ranked Swiss star to acknowledge the rare visit to Melbourne by a high-ranking British royal.

“Your Royal Highness, welcome to the world of tennis,” Federer said. “Thanks for coming.”

Prince William duly blushed and waved, and the pair shook hands. Federer is no stranger to royalty, having collected the Wimbledon trophy six times on London’s grass courts among his record 15 Grand Slam titles. But this was his first meeting with William, second in line to the British throne.

“Chitchat? no,” Federer said. “English breakfast tea? No, not yet.”

“Of course, where he comes from, you know, he knows tennis. And Wimbledon’s big,” Federer added. “So for me it was very a big honor that he came to watch me. He said he was happy that I played a little bit longer because the match could have ended even shorter.”

Prince William also met women’s champion Serena Williams, who defeated Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1 to set up a third-round match against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro. Navarro ousted Venus Williams in the second round last year.

Venus has already improved on that, defeating Sybille Bammer 6-2, 7-5.

“I feel if I play well, I can beat anybody,” said Serena, who is planning some research on Suarez Navarro. “I know she took out Venus around this time last year, if I’m not mistaken.

“I would hate to see it become a habit for her, taking out a sister this time every year. So I have to be ready. Yeah, definitely will talk to (Venus) and see what goes next.”

U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was among the other women advancing. She’ll meet No. 29 Shahar Peer of Israel in the next round.

Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 Australian Open finalist and French Open champion, lost to Argentina’s Gisela Dulko.

Most of the leading men in the top half the draw progressed in straight sets.

Novak Djokovic, the 2008 champion, had a slow start in his 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win over Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland. No. 9 Fernando Verdasco, a semifinalist last year, advanced 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 over Ivan Sergeyev of Ukraine, and 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win over American Taylor Dent.

Sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko had a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 win over Ukraine qualifier Illya Marchenko, extending his winning streak to 11, including victories over Federer and Nadal in the 2009 World Tour Final in London and in Doha this month.

Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 finalist, held on to beat No. 17 David Ferrer 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-1 to set up a third-round match against former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, who beat American Donald Young 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-1.

Hewitt won their last match at Melbourne Park, in the same round in 2008, which didn’t start until just before midnight and finished at 4:34 a.m.