Dinara Safina's Uncomfortable Start

2 months ago 02nd Sep 12:13

Dinara Safina's U.S. Open campaign almost ended before it had begun as she came through a hard fought match with Australian Olivia Rogowska.

Rogowska, who is ranked 166 places below Safina, was making her debut at Flushing Meadows but took it to Safina in a great performance.

Safina struggled with her serve throughout the entire match, ending the first set with a double fault summed up her performance.

Despite still struggling with her serve and range the world number one dug deep to level the match at a set a piece.

Safina was expected to blast through the final set but it didn't happen as Rogowska held her nerve and opened up a 3-0 lead.

But Safina drew on her experience to fight back and it was just a few well placed balls from the Russian that finally saw her clinch the match.

There were easier wins for many of the big seeds on day two as Jelena Jankovic dropped just five games on her way to beating Roberta Vinci.

Rogers Cup winner Elena Dementieva dropped just three matches as she stormed through to the second round beating Camille Pin 6-1 6-2.

Maria Sharapova's road to recovery continued as she saw off Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3 6-0. The former champion had spent the best part of twelve months away from the game as she struggled with a shoulder injury.

However the big shock of the day came when former French Open champion and number eleven seed Ana Ivanovic crashed out 2-6 6-3 7-6 (9-7) to Kateryna Bondarenko.