Serena Williams, Dinara Safina Win in Sydney, Svetlana Kuznetsova Out

Medibank International

The top two women in the world were in action for the first time on Tuesday in the second round of the Medibank International at Sydney.

No. 1 Serena Williams cruised to a straight sets victory over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 6-2, while No. 2 Dinara Safina battled back from 5-0 down in the first set to see off Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 6-4.

Williams raced through the match in one hour and 12 minutes, with the Spaniard having no response to the top seed. Williams mixed in a number of flat drives with looping forehands, working Martinez Sanchez across the baseline and forcing errors from both wings.

While Martinez Sanchez was more competitive in the second set, hitting five aces and creating break point opportunities, Williams was too strong and experienced.

On serve in the second set, Williams broke at 2-2 and again at 4-2 when Martinez Sanchez—after working her way into the net—watched her backhand volley sail into the tram lines. The No. 1 seed closed out the match moments later and will play qualifier Vera Dushevina in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Things were nowhere near as simple for the world’s No. 2 in her second round encounter with the best non-seeded player in the draw—No. 10 Radwanska.

Safina hit a forehand long at 0-40 to trail 3-0 in the opener and after Radwanska held serve, the Russian lost her fifth game in a row with an errant backhand down the line.

Then Safina started clicking. Her timing was much better and she was creating angles off of the forehand that she couldn’t find 20 minutes earlier. Her groundstrokes were much deeper and the pace on the ball was too much for her opponent. A red-faced Safina ran off the next seven games in a row, wrapped up the set with a forehand drive volley, and she was well on her way.

In the second set Safina broke at 1-0 and 2-1, but she was unable to serve out the match at 5-3. The No. 2 seed made amends in the very next game, showing nice touch on a drop shot to force the error out of Radwanska and, after one hour and 46 minutes of hard-fought tennis, book her place against compatriot Elena Dementieva.

Dementieva, seeded fifth in Sydney, knocked off Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. The defending champion was not at her best, but the 28-year-old has had plenty of success over the Slovakian No. 23 over the years, extending her head-to-head record to 11-3

After a tight second set that could have gone either way, the Russian burst into another gear, winning 71 percent of her first service points and creating eight chances to break. Hantuchova, by contrast, won just 6-of-16 points on her first serve.

Tuesday’s action was not kind to all of the seeds though, as world No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova was dumped out by Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 29 minutes. It is the first time in their four meetings that Cibulkova has defeated the Russian, and she will be rewarded with a quarterfinals spot on Wednesday against Victoria Azarenka.

No. 6 seed Azarenka was forced to go the distance against 39-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm. Azarenka raced out to a 6-1 first set lead, but battled for every point from there on out, winning in three 6-1, 5-7, 7-5.

Elsewhere Vera Dushevina bumped out fellow 23-year-old Russian Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-4, and Flavia Pennetta defeated Na Li in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(4).

Pennetta will face Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai in the quarterfinals after she beat Hungarian qualifier Agnes Szavay 6-3, 7-6(5).

Moorilla Hobart International

In Hobart, all four women’s seeds in the top half of the draw made it through to Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Top seed Anabel Medina Garrigues came from a set down to beat qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, and No. 4-seeded Alona Bondarenko saw off teenager Alize Cornet 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

No. 7 Jie Zheng won the battle of China with a straight sets victory over Shuai Peng 6-2, 6-1 in just 66 minutes, and No. 8 Gisela Dulko of Argentina put a torrid second set behind her to eventually beat Tamira Paszek in a third set tiebreaker 6-1, 6-0, 7-6(5).

In what looks to be a strong tournament for the top players, Medina Garrigues will play Dulko and Bondarenko will face Zheng for a spot in the semifinals.

The other four seeds will be in action Wednesday to complete the bottom half of the draw.

Second seed Shahar Peer will play Jelena Dokic, No. 3 Kateryna Bondarenko will face Sara Errani, fifth-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro will lock horns with Aussie wildcard Alicia Molik, and No. 6 Aleksandra Wozniak will square off against qualifier Kirsten Flipkens.

To see what happened on the men's side of the competition in Sydney, as well as what went down at the Heineken Open in Auckland, check out Nima's Day Three round-up here.