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.
