ranked Dinara Safina beat Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-4 Monday at the Cincinnati Open to set up a second-round match with US Open champion Kim Clijsters, who has not played on the women's tour since her Wimbledon quarterfinal defeat. Clijsters got a first-round bye at Cincinnati along with defending champion and top-seeded Jelana Jankovic. Jankovic will open against 71st-ranked Vera Dushevina, who beat Anastasia Rodionova 6-2, 7-6 (7). Jankovic's fellow Serb, Ana Ivanovic, rallied from a set and a break down to beat ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2 in a grueling first-round match that lasted 2 hours, 14 minutes. The 62nd-ranked Ivanovic built on the momentum of winning the tiebreaker to break Azarenka's serve in the first game of the third set and never looked back, clinching the win with a successful challenge on match point. No. 13 Shahar Peer became the first seeded player to advance Monday when Olga Govortsova retired while trailing 6-3, 4-1. Peer will meet Nuria Llagostera Vives in the second round. Vives needed three sets to overcome Vania King, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, while Sara Errani moved on with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jamie Hampton. No. 16 Marion Bartoli also advanced with a 6-4, 6-0 win over Anabel Medina Garrigues and will next play Alona Bondarenko, a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 winner over Dominika Cibulkova. In other first-round matches, qualifier Bojana Jovanovski rallied to upset 14th-seeded Aravane Rezai 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Jovanovski, ranked 98th, will meet Akgul Amanmuradova in the second round. Amanmuradova cruised past Kimiko Date Krumm 6-1, 6-2 in a matchup of qualifiers. Qualifier Monica Niculescu beat 91st-ranked Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 6-0, Yaroslava Shvedova defeated Alla Kudryavtseva 7-5, 6-4, qualifier Ayumi Morita knocked off Arantxa Parra Santonja 7-6 (7), 6-2, and Alisa Kleybanova beat Alexandra Dulgheru, 6-4, 6
