PARIS(AP) Dinara Safina rolled past another opponent at the French Open, beating Vitalia Diatchenko of Russia 6-1, 6-1 in the second round on Wednesday.
The top-seeded Safina took a 5-0 lead to open the match, stretching her streak to 17 straight games after winning 6-0, 6-0 in the first round.
Pretty good start for the tournament,'' said Safina, who lost in the Australian Open final and was the runner-up at Roland Garros last year.I just played a good game today, good enough to win.''
Diatchenko, an 18-year-old Russian qualifier ranked 153rd, broke Safina once in the second set but failed to convert her only other chance in the first.
I felt so bad because I didn't play my best game today,'' Diatchenko said.She's in good form. Every ball she put close to the line.''
No. 9 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus also advanced to the third round, beating Kristina Barrois of Germany 7-6 (1), 7-5. No. 25 Li Na of China, No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No. 29 Agnes Szavay of Hungary also made it through.
On the men's side, third-seeded Andy Murray survived a brief scare before beating Potito Starace of Italy 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.
The Briton was trailing 5-2 in the third set but broke Starace three straight times to win.
Murray also reached the third round at Roland Garros last year but lost to Nicolas Almagro in four sets. In his only other appearance at the French Open, in 2006, he lost in the first round.
No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile also advanced, but French veteran Fabrice Santoro played his last match at Roland Garros.
Santoro, who has made a record 67 Grand Slam appearances, lost in the first round of this year's French Open - his record-tying 20th - to Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
Twenty years. That counts for something in a lifetime,'' Santoro said.It has been a long road, a fantastic career. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot.''
Santoro and Rochus started their match Tuesday, but it was suspended by darkness with the Belgian leading 5-3 in the fourth set. The pair came back out onto the court after Safina's win and played only eight minutes.
I'm saying to myself that the story is over, that a page is being turned,'' Santoro said.I will no longer be on court next year. But I think that it is time to go.''
Later Wednesday, four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal is scheduled to get back on court, as is two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin. For the women, No. 3 Venus Williams, No. 8 Ana Ivanovic and unseeded Maria Sharapova are scheduled to play.