Fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska advanced to the second round of the Dubai Tennis championships on Tuesday after defeating Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-7(8), 7-5.
The 22-year-old Radwanska, who cruised through the first set in 27 minutes, needed another two hours to win her opening match. After losing the second set on a tie-breaker, Radwanska struggled to regain concentration in the third and had to come back from 5-3 down to win it 7-5.
Two players pulled out of the tournament earlier on Tuesday. Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia retired with a hamstring injury while trailing Iveta Benesova 3-1 and Maria Kirilenko withdrew with a neck injury.
The results: At Dubai (Dubai WTA Open): First round : Agnieszka Radwanska bt Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-7(6), 7-5; Iveta Benesova bt Dominika Cibulkova 3-1 retd.; Lucie Safarova bt Petra Martic 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; Julia Georges bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.
At Marseille (ATP Open 13): First round : Nicolas Mahut bt Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4; Igor Kunitsyn bt Roberto Bautista 6-4, 6-4; David Goffin bt Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 1-0 retd.; Albano Olivetti bt Matthias Bachinger 6-4, 6-3; Flavio Cipolla bt Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-6(4); Edouard Roger-Vasselin bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 7-6(4); Ivan Ljubicic bt Florent Serra 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3.
