Dinara Safina Cruises into French Open 2nd Round

Monday, May 25, 2009 at 8:33 pm

PARIS: World number one Dinara Safina opened her quest for a maiden grand slam title with a 6-0 6-0 demolition of Britain’s Anne Keothavong at the French Open on Monday.

The Russian, who lost to Serb Ana Ivanovic in the final last year, will take on compatriot Vitalia Diatchenko for a place in the third round.

The 23-year-old Safina played with the urgency of a woman late for a lunch appointment as she ruthlessly dismantled Keothavong in 61 minutes on Centre Court.

But the performance failed to impress her coach.

“I guess I could serve a little bit better and hit the balls a little harder, especially in that love game, 5-0 (in second set), when I pushed a few shots he was angry,” Safina, who has been beaten on clay just once this season, told reporters.

“He said, ‘What’s this at 5-0? Hitting the ball. You have to hit it.’ Just simple things.”

Safina shrugged off a couple of break points in the third game of the opening set with two stunning crosscourt backhand winners and never looked back.

World number 48 Keothavong got a long round of applause from the crowd when, while 6-0 3-0 down, she had three game points. But the British number one netted a forehand on the first and threw away the other two with double faults.

Safina was further delayed when she wasted four match points but eventually ended her opponent’s ordeal on the fifth attempt with a forehand winner.

The whitewash failed to wipe the smile off Keothavong’s face.

“I’m not going to walk out here and slit my wrists or anything,” said Keothavong, who reached the Warsaw Open semi-finals last week.

“In the end, you just have to find ways to laugh about it. What else is there to do? I’m sure there will be a few jokes about it, but I can take it.

“Overall, I’m pleased with my claycourt season.”