Former No. 1 Dinara Safina ended a six-match losing streak dating to September when she defeated Han Xinyun of China 6-2, 6-0 to start the Malaysian Open on Tuesday.
Safina struggled to recover after her career was derailed a year ago by a back injury. The Russian's ranking has fallen from 2nd to 113th, and the win was only her 10th in the last 12 months. Han won both games by breaking serve.
Safina will meet 35th-ranked Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
Dfending champ Alisa Kleybanova of Russia defeated Lu Jing-Jing, China, 6-1, 6-1. Seventh-seeded Kimiko Date-Krumm lost to Anne Kremer of Luxembourg 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Marion Bartoli, a semifinalist in Doha last week, routed Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 6-0, 6-1. Jarmila Groth of Australia defeated Sun Shengnan of China 7-6 (2), 6-3 and Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia routed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-0, 6-1.
