Safina grinds out opening victory
WIMBLEDON
Date: 22 June - 5 July
 Safina is eyeing her third Grand Slam final this year |
World number one Dinara Safina had to work hard to overcome Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino 7-5 6-3 as she reached the second round at Wimbledon.
The 23-year-old Russian began brightly but had to recover from 3-4 down to stumble through the opening set.
Dominguez Lino weakened in the heat, while Safina's power and accuracy improved as she wrapped up her win.
Caroline Wozniacki trailed by a set before beating Kimiko Date Krumm, while Jelena Jankovic saw off Julia Goerges.
The ninth seed Wozniacki was given a huge scare before seeing off Japan's 38-year-old Date Krumm 5-7 6-4 6-1.
Date Krumm made her Wimbledon debut in 1989, the year before Wozniacki was born, and last played on the Wimbledon turf 13 years ago as a top 10 player when she lost in the semi-finals to Steffi Graf.
She blew the ninth seed Wozniacki away to take the first set 7-5 and then led 3-1 in the next on Court Two.
Despite a few nervy serves, Wozniacki battled hard to win a tense service game and the momentum turned on its head with her opponent looking increasingly weary.
The Dane's spark had finally ignited, and after racing to a 4-1 lead in the decider, she secured an anxious victory, helped after Date Krumm was forced into an injury time-out.
Sixth seed Jankovic survived a second set wobble to finally defeat Goerges 6-4 7-6 (7-0).
The 24-year-old Serbian, who finished last year as world number one, eased to a 5-1 lead and had to overcome a Goerges fightback to take the opener 6-4.
Her German opponent served brilliantly to grab a 5-2 lead in the next and with a decider looking likely, Jankovic battled back to claim the win on a tie-break without conceding a point.
On Court One, Safina, loser in the year's first two Grand Slams in Australia and France, broke early against the athletic Dominguez Lino and raced to a 3-1 lead.
But the Spanish world number 72 broke back and edged ahead 4-3.
It was a worrying time for the Russian who has never got beyond the third round at Wimbledon, but with a combination of aggressive volleys and fine serving, Safina finally pulled through the first set 7-5.
Safina, who used an Olympic sprinter to improve her fitness ahead of the championships, continued to mix up her tactics and was able to slowly dominate the Spaniard as she eased to victory with few problems in the second set.
