Safina reaches quarters

Dinara Safina of Russia makes a forehand return against Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia during their second round match of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Wednesday.Photo: AFP

Russian fourth seed Dinara Safina became the first player to reach the quarterfinals when she whipped Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.
The Beijing Olympic silver medallist, making her Tokyo debut after receiving a first-round bye, struggled with her serve, hitting eight double faults before scoring a 6-3, 6-4 second round victory in 95 minutes.
Safina hit a double fault on break point to lose the fifth game of the first set, but she was never in serious danger throughout the match.
Cibulkova, who eliminated 2006 Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo on Tuesday, broke back once in the sixth game of the second set, but that was all she could do as Safina sealed her quarterfinal place with her ninth ace.
"It was a pretty good match. She (Cibulkova) is not an easy opponent, and I think I played really solid today. I struggled a little bit in the second set, but I'm really happy that I put out in two sets," said Safina, 22.
When she was asked about her eight double faults, she replied: "I just tried to focus on the next point. There is not much time to think about it."
In the first round, Russian fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova avenged her loss at the Beijing Olympics to Li Na by eliminating the Chinese star.
The 2004 US Open champion, who bowed to eventual semifinalist Li in the round of 64 in Beijing last month, took advantage of a raft of double faults to score a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory.
The 26-year-old Li, the first Chinese to have won a WTA Tour title at Guangzhou in 2004, seemed to recover her form in the second set by taking six games in a row from the second game.
But a double fault on the crucial break point in the second game of the final set eventually cost her the match.
Overall, Li hit seven aces but also nine double faults -- two of them on break points, while Kuznetsova hit two and four.
"I'm very happy with the result, especially since I was not expecting to play that well. I didn't play that well in the second set, but the match was good," said Kuznetsova, ranked seventh in the world against Li's 31.
"I'm happy to do this, because coming from Europe (Fed Cup), they played on clay, and today a tough match in the first round. It's great for me.
"I worked hard after the Olympics, and now I feel much fitter, playing better and much more confident. The result shows it. Hopefully, I can keep going and come back to my normal level," she added.
Kuznetsova will next face Japan's Ayumi Morita.
In other first round action, Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik breezed past Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-1, 6-2, while Russia's Nadia Petrova defeated Aravane Rezai of France 7-5, 6-2.
Virginie Razzano of France outclassed top local hope, veteran Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-2.