Safina strolls in at Sydney as Australians exit

Jan 12, 2009, 6:01 GMT

   Sydney - Dinara Safina carried momentum from last week's Hopman Cup final into her start at the Medibank International on Monday with a 6-2, 6-1 opening defeat of Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

   Safina, who lost the teams final in Perth alongside her brother Marat Safin to Slovakia, dropped the first game against 18-year-old Cirstea but then opened up her firepower to sweep to victory.

   'When I'm playing my best I know I can beat everybody,' said the winner, who next takes on compatriot Vera Dushevina, who crushed Aussie wild card Emelyn Starr 6-0, 6-1.

   The home showing continued to sink after the Sunday ouster of Samantha Stosur at the hands of top seed Venus Williams. Also out on Monday was Casey Dellacqua, who committed 39 unforced errors as she lost to Italian Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2.

   Russian third seed Elena Dementieva wasn't happy to be back on court only two days after winning the title in New Zealand, but she made the best of it over Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1.

   'It was really tough to come and play the next day, but I'm glad I won in two sets. My game felt better at the end,' said Olympic champion Dementieva.

   French teenager Alize Cornet revealed that she was bothered by the inflamed shoulder which has plagued her for two months, but brushed off any fitness worries for next week's start of the Australian Open.

   Cornet scored a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of returning Russian Nadia Petrova, the seventh seed, who had been ill with viral meningitis.

   The rusty Petrova suffered with 36 errors while Cornet was plagued by ten double-faults.

   'The (shoulder) pain comes and goes over the last two months,' said Cornet, world number 16. 'I was a bit scared yesterday to practise because it hurt me really hard.

   'But the physio told me to test it in the match. I felt okay on the court, so I was really relieved.

   'I just have to ice, it's nothing serious, just some inflammation.'

   In the men's draw, Spain's seventh seed Tommy Robredo showed he has adapted to Australian heat after leaving the snowy Barcelona last week, producing a defeat of Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-4.

   'For the first match of the year, I'm really happy. I played well but struggled in the last game,' he said of an encounter which required five match points to complete.

   Frenchman Michael Llodra hammered German Denis Gremelmayr 6-0, 6-2 while Finn Jarkko Nieminen defeated Feliciano López of Spain 6-2, 7-6 (11-9).