Third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia has easily defeated Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-1, to advance to the third round of the women's Gold Coast hardcourt tennis championships in Australia.
In other matches Tuesday, fourth-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy beat China's Li Na, 6-2, 6-2. Number-eight Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain defeated Aiko Nakamura of Japan, 6-4, 6-4, while teenager Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic scored a three-set win over Slovakia's Jarmila Gajdosova (4-6, 7-5, 6-4).
Meanwhile in doubles, comeback player Martina Hingis of Switzerland teamed up with Tatiana Golovin of France to beat Athens Olympic doubles gold medalists Li Ting and Sun Tiantian of China, 6-1, 6-4. The 25-year-old Hingis is making a return to the circuit after retiring three years ago due to a series of chronic foot injuries.
Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.