Serena and Dinara Kick off 2010 with Wins in Syndey

With a loaded draw filled with past major champions and rising stars, the Medibank International women's tournament kicked off yesterday, and upsets were a plenty. The tournament's top two seeds, Serena Williams and Dinara Safina, both easily advanced in 2 sets, but Svetlana Kuznetsova, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic and Vera Zvonareva, all top 10 seeds, were ousted. Both Elena Dementieva and Victoria Azarenka moved on, but barely, beating their unseeded opponents in 3-setters. “I don’t care who I play. Whenever I play someone they play their best.” said Serena, reacting to the many high seeds who were upset on day one. “I play Vera Dushevina next and she’s a good player and she’s been ranked high before. So whoever I play, believe me, they’re going to play like No. 1 on that particular day against me for whatever reason, so it doesn’t matter for me.”

Sydney
Women's Singles- 2nd Round

Serena Williams (1) def. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 6-2
Dinara Safina (2) def. Agnieszka Radwanska 7-5, 6-4
Dominika Cibulkova def. Svetlana Kuznetsova (3) 7-5, 6-2
Elena Dementieva (5) def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Victoria Azarenka (6) def. Kimiko Date Krumm 6-1, 5-7, 7-5
Flavia Pennetta def. Na Li 6-2, 7-6 (7-4)
Vera Dushevina def. Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-4
Aravane Rezai def. Agnes Szavay 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)

Women's Singles- 1st Round

Na Li def. Caroline Wozniacki (4) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
Victoria Azarenka (6) def. Sabine Lisicki 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
Vera Dushevina def. Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 6-2
Kimiko Date Krumm def. Nadia Petrova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4