BEIJING, Jan. 11 - Second-seeded Dinara Safina continued her tuneup for the Australian Open with a 6-2, 6-1 win Monday over Sorana Cirstea of Romania at the Sydney International. Playing her first WTA tournament of the year, Safina took advantage of five double faults by Cirstea to advance to the second round after the 58-minute match at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney.

Safina said despite the score, Cirstea had pushed her to play aggressively.

"She goes for the shots, so I had to avoid this," Safina said. "I had to be much more aggressive, as she is. I think I did this pretty well today."

Safina said she appreciated the pre-Grand Slam practice she was getting at the Hopman Cup and Sydney. The Australian Open begins on Monday in Melbourne.

"You have to try the things you've been working on" in the off-season, she said. "Now I've played many matches and I still feel that I can improve." Safina has nine WTA singles victories.

In other matches, Alize Cornet of France beat No. 7 Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-2, 6-4 and eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark defeated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-2.

Sara Errani beat Casey Dellacqua of Australia 6-1, 6-2.

No. 4 Vera Zvonareva of Russia withdrew with a stomach ailment and Victoria Azarenka, who won the Brisbane International title on Saturday, pulled out of her first-round match with a virus.

Melanie Smith of Britain advanced to the second round when Marion Bartoli of France retired with a left calf muscle strain at 1-1 in the first set.

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