It’s not that there are no other things happening in the tennis world, a match won by Dinara Safina really is big news – unfortunately, the Russian hadn’t done so in months, since September 2010.
Today at the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, the former number one Safina even posted a bagel, against a 125th ranked player that is, but considering that Safina is world number 113 right now, it’s not a small deal. With a 6-2 6-0 victory over 20-year-old Han Xinyun, Safina advanced to the second round of the $220,000 International-level event and put an end to a six-match losing streak.
Safina’s next opponent will be fifth seed Lucie Safarova.
Three seeds advanced to the second round on Tuesday: No.2 Marion Bartoli beat Maria Elena Camerin 6-0 6-1, No.3 and defending champion Alisa Kleybanova defeated Lu Jing-Jing 6-1 6-1, and No.8 Bojana Jovanovski took out Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-0 6-1. Seventh seed Kimiko Date Krumm fell to Anne Kremer 4-6 6-2 7-6(5). (photo: © Neal Trousdale)
