MONTRÉAL, Canada - Dinara Safina has fond memories of Montréal, going all the way to the title here two years ago; and on Monday she picked up where she left off in the French Canadian edition of the Rogers Cup, cruising through her first round match in front of a supportive Centre Court crowd.
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Safina, who was ranked No.1 in the world at this point last year but comes into this week's Premier-level stop at No.70 - her ranking fell 35 spots this week after she didn't defend her finals showing in Cincy - had few problems with No.36-ranked Andrea Petkovic, taking the first set comfortably then building a 4-0 lead in the second set, eventually closing out a 63 63 victory.
"It's a nice feeling to be back. I've played my best tennis here," Safina said. "When I went on the court the people cheered and it was really nice. I'll try to win more and hopefully they'll put me on Centre Court so I can feel that again."
Next up for Safina will be either No.18 seed Nadia Petrova or Lucie Safarova, who play their first round match Tuesday at Uniprix Stadium.
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There were mixed results for the three seeds in action, with No.13 seed Yanina Wickmayer saving two set points in the second set to beat Olga Govortsova, 63 76(7), and No.16 seed Aravane Rezai rallying from 1-3 in the third set to beat Petra Kvitova, 67(1) 75 63, but No.14 seed Shahar Peer falling to Kaia Kanepi, 63 63, having won all three of their previous meetings in straight sets.
"I decided to change my game plan after losing the first set and play longer rallies," Rezai said. "I wanted to keep fighting and eventually it paid off."
Yaroslava Shvedova, Klara Zakopalova, Timea Bacsinszky, Sybille Bammer, qualifiers Jarmila Groth, Iveta Benesova and Vania King and lucky loser Patty Schnyder also scored first round wins on Monday.
Canadians went 0-2 in the night session, with Aleksandra Wozniak falling to Bacsinszky, 63 62, then Stéphanie Dubois squandering a 64 41 lead - and three points for a 64 51 lead - to fall to the tenacious Zakopalova, 46 75 63.
