Pe’er pounds Ivanovic again; Sela advances in Vancouver

Shahar convincingly defeats former world No. 1 in San Diego.

By ALLON SINAI, AP
Peer 311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
Peer 311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
Shahar Pe’er advanced to the second round of the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego in convincing fashion on Tuesday night, beating former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Pe’er, ranked 17th, won 74 percent of her service points against Ivanovic, who is currently ranked just 60th. The Israeli will next play the winner of the encounter between Nadia Petrova and Yaroslava Shvedova.
The Israeli now holds a 3-0 career record against Ivanovic, with her most recent win before Monday coming just over a month ago in the first round of Wimbledon, when Pe’er cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 conquest.
Meanwhile, Dudi Sela (107) progressed to the second round of the Challenger tournament in Vancouver on Monday, coming back from a set down to beat Brydan Klein 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-4.
Due to his recent spiral down the rankings, Sela decided to take a break from the ATP Tour to regain some confidence and amass much-needed ranking points in the Challenger tour.
Also Monday, former No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina put an end to a series of early-round exits with a 6-1, 7-6 (2) victory over Alona Bondarenko in San Diego.
Safina, who lost her first match in four tournaments this season, ran away with the first set before she jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second-set tiebreaker to defeat her Ukrainian opponent.
A first-round loser last week in the Bank of the West Classic, Safina has been riddled by a lower back injury that has limited her play. The three-time Grand Slam finalist has only a 6-8 record this season.
The Russian, whose ranking has dropped to No. 35, has advanced as far as the quarterfinals only twice this year.
In other first-round matches, Alisa Kleybanova of Russia beat France’s Aravane Rezai 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 and Italy’s Sara Errani defeated Olga Govortsova of Russia 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.
Kleybanova next faces top-seeded Jelena Jankovic in a second-round match.
The tournament, which had been held in the San Diego area for 24 years, returned after a three-year absence.