Safina overcomes late resistance to advance

Melbourne: Dinara Safina overcame a minor stumble when serving for the match before advancing to the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova on Wednesday.

The second-ranked Russian controlled the match from the onset against the 67th ranked Czech, although she was forced to stave off four break points in the final game.

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Last year's beaten finalist at Melbourne Park was 0-40 down in the 10th game of the second set but recovered to seal victory in 93 minutes when a strong serve down the middle forced Zahlavov Strycova's to hook her return well wide.

Safina will next meet Elena Baltacha after the Briton upset the 30th seeded Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko earlier in the day.

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