World No. 1 Safina easy first-round winner

Safina defeated German Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-0, 6-3. Safina, a French Open and Australian Open runner-up, was upset in last year's final by Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Three seeded players lost Tuesday. France's Nathalie Dechy beat second-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Belgian Yanina Wickmayer beat fourth-seeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-3; and defending Ordina champion Tanasugarn beat seventh-seeded Czech Iveta Benesova 6-3, 6-1.

Third-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta, who swept past Russian Ksenia Pervak 6-1, 6-1, plays Tanasugarn in the quarterfinals.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.