Safina advances past third round

MELBOURNE, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Third-seeded Dinara Safina, seeking her first major title, reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open Friday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kaia Kanepi.

Safina won her first two matches in the tournament for the third time in her six appearances, but this is the first time she has been able to advance past the third round.

She had her best grand-slam season ever last year, reaching the semifinals of the U.S. Open and the championship match of the French Open.

Safina will meet either Daniela Hantuchova or Alize Cornet Sunday with a quarterfinal berth on the line.

With No. 2 seed Venus Williams having been eliminated, the only player seeded higher than Safina is No. 1 Jelena Jankovic.

Jankovic was scheduled to meet Ai Sugiyama in a third-round match Friday night.

In the only other women's match early Thursday, No. 10 seed Nadia Petrova advanced when Galina Voskoboeva retired in the second set. Petrova had won the opening set 6-1.