Russia's Dinara Safina celebrated her first match as World No 1 by needing just 51 minutes to blitz Italy's Sara Errani 6-0, 6-1 in the first round of Stuttgart's WTA tournament.
Russia's Dinara Safina celebrated her first match as World No 1 by needing just 51 minutes to blitz Italy's Sara Errani 6-0, 6-1 in the first round of Stuttgart's WTA tournament.
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The Russian dominated to win the first set in just 26 minutes against Errani, ranked 37th, and it took the 21-year-old Italian 40 minutes to even win a game as the Russian hit five aces in her opening match here yesterday.
With plenty of power at the baseline blended with some delicate dropshots Safina, who turned 23 on Monday, began her Stuttgart campaign in style at the first indoor stadium on the WTA tour to host a claycourt tournament.
"I was quite nervous before the match, I was trying to do everything right and stay focused - it went well," said Safina, who will play France's Alize Cornet or Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in the second round.
"I served well and I just want to enjoy my day off and rest up before the rest of the matches. "It's the perfect preparation here for Roland Garros (which starts on May 23), it's fast like the courts in Paris and because it is indoors, you don't get the rain delays."
In contrast, Olympic champion Elena Dementieva needed more than two hours to survive a scare from local heroine Anna-Lena Groenefeld before winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 earlier in the day.
Having had few problems in the first set, the Russian pin-up was put under pressure in the second and could only defend one of the three break points against her.
But the Russian, who won gold at the Beijing Olympic Games last August, regained control in the third set before admitting she had found it hard going.
"It was a difficult match to play, she never lets you get into a rhythm," complained the 27-year-old.
"I lost my concentration in the second set and she was hitting the ball really hard. "A first round match is always tough, especially as it was my first experience on clay for a while, so the second round should get better."
In the other first round matches, eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland needed a first set-tie break against Aleksandra Wozniak before her comfortable 7-6 (7/2), 6-0 victory over the Canadian.
China's Na Li beat compatriot Shuai Peng 6-2, 6-3 while Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova also took her place in the second round with a strong comeback as she won 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 against Italy's Alberta Brianti.
Seventh-seed Caroline Wozniacki booked her second-round berth as she beat Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic in straight sets while France's Marion Bartoli beat Croatia's Karolina Sprem 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 just before midnight.
Earlier, former World No 1 Jelena Jankovic admitted thoughts of defending the WTA title she won here last year are far from her mind as she looks to recapture her lost form.
The 24-year-old had a glittering 2008 season when she reached the US Open final as well as the last four at both Roland Garros and the Australian Open to finish the year as World No 1.
But a change in her training over the winter break did not yield the rewards she was hoping for and, by her own admission, she has been slow around the court recently as Safina has claimed top ranking in the world.
"I won't be thinking about defending the title here, it's more important for me to just get back to playing good tennis," said Jankovic who plays Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in the first round later today.
Jankovic beat Nadia Petrova 6-4, 6-3 to win last year's final here as part of a trio of consecutive titles she won at Beijing, Stuttgart and Moscow.
But having won the low-key Marbella WTA tournament this year and only reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, Jankovic says recapturing form is her priority now having dropped to fourth in the rankings.
"When I walk on court I will have some memories of how well I was playing last year, but I need to get back to that level," she said with the next Grand Slam - the French Open - due to begin on May 23.
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