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Safina, Hingis advance in Australia
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-04 09:00
GOLD COAST, Australia - Third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia defeated Iveta
Benesova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 6-1 Tuesday in the second round of the
Australian women's hardcourt championships while Martina Hingis advanced in
doubles.
Hingis and Tatiana Golovin of France beat Olympic gold
medalists Li Ting and Sun Tiantian of China 6-1, 6-4.
The 25-year-old Hingis, a winner of five Grand Slam singles titles, left the
WTA Tour full time in 2002 because of foot and ankle injuries. Her first match
back was a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi on Monday.
Hingis will face Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic in the second round on
Wednesday.
In other second-round matches Tuesday, Czech teenager Lucie Safarova rallied
for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Slovakian Jarmila Gajdosova, fourth-seeded
Flavia Pennetta of Italy beat China's Li Na 6-2, 6-2, and eighth-seeded Anabel
Medina Garrigues of Spain defeated Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-4, 6-4.
Safarova, who won two WTA Tour titles in 2005, needed seven match points
before closing out her win over Gajdosova. She will face Medina Garrigues in the
quarterfinals.
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