Sela gets back on track

Hours after dropping two more places to No. 104, tennis star advanced to second round of Farmers Classic tournament in Los Angeles.

By ALLON SINAI
DUDI SELA 311 (photo credit: AP)
DUDI SELA 311
(photo credit: AP)
Hours after dropping two more places to No. 104 in the world, Dudi Sela took a step forward in the right direction on Monday, advancing to the second round of the Farmers Classic tournament in Los Angeles.
Sela outlasted Xavier Malisse (ranked 57th) of Belgium, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, snapping a threematch losing streak by claiming his first victory in over a month.
Next up for Sela is a far tougher challenge against world No. 27 and No. 4 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
The other top singles seeds with first-round byes in this event are Andy Murray (world No. 4) – a wild-card replacement for second-ranked Novak Djokovic, who withdrew for personal reasons – 2009 champion Sam Querrey (20) and Marcos Baghdatis (26) of Cyprus.
In women’s action, Shahar Pe’er (16) faced Daniela Hantuchova (25) in a tough first round encounter in Stanford late Tuesday night in her first match under the guidance of new coach Eliot Teltscher.
Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic beat Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-2 Monday in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic, ending a two-match losing streak to the 26th-ranked Russian.
Former top-ranked Dinara Safina of Russia, plagued by a lower back injury much of the year, lost to Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm, 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2.
Ivanovic, another former world No. 1 currently ranked a five-year low 63rd, was granted a wildcard into the event.
Safina extended her losing streak to six matches after dropping out of the top 20 for the first time in four years.