Fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic beat Italian Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-2 and top-ranked Jelena Jankovic advanced 6-4, 7-5 over Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium.
Jankovic, the only member of the top Serbian trio (including men's star Novak Djokovic) yet to win a major, needed a medical time out for treatment on her right foot in the first set and was broken three times in a tougher-than-expected 1-hour, 46-minute match.
Ivanovic lost the last Australian Open final to Maria Sharapova, then won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open and gained the No. 1 ranking.
Now seeded fifth, she is drawing inspiration from her last run here. Sharapova is not defending the title because of a shoulder injury.
“I was in this situation before French Open last year, coming into the tournament as pretty serious finalist,” she said. “That experience will help me a lot to approach this Australian Open.”
Dictating play and ripping winners into the corners, Ivanovic repeatedly took advantage of Brianti’s weak serve. The 28-year-old Italian held serve only three times.
No. 169-ranked Brianti needed treatment for her lower back and took a medical timeout after getting broken to fall behind 3-0 in the second set.
She returned to break Ivanovic’s serve and held to pull back to 3-2, but lost the next three games. Ivanovic, pushing the limits with her shots, had the same number of winners as unforced errors (26).
She won 17 of her 27 net approaches, a sign she’s growing in confidence moving forward.
“I improved a lot since last match. I was committing much more, coming to the net more often,” she said, adding she still had plenty to improve.
“When you come against top players or high-ranked players, you automatically raise your level and your consistency. That’s something that I can do.”
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No. 3 Dinara Safina overcame 44 unforced errors in a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0 win over fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova and will next play No. 25 Kaie Kanepi of Estonia.
Safina, younger sister of Russian men's star Marat Safin, lost to a qualifier in the first round here last year, but went on to reach the French Open final, take the Olympic silver medal and make the U.S. Open semifinals.
No. 10 Nadia Petrova had a 6-3, 6-2 win over India’s Sania Mirza. No. 26 Ai Sugiyama of Japan defeated Nathalie Dechy of France 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 and next faces Jankovic.
Also advancing were No. 7 Vera Zvonareva of Russia, No. 15 Alize Cornet of France and No. 19 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.
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Ivanovic into 3rd round at Australian Open
