Safina scrapes past Barrois

Safina: Failed to silence doubters

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World number one Dinara Safina again failed to silence her US Open critics as she scraped past Kristina Barrois in three sets.

The top seed came through an almighty struggle on Louis Armstrong Stadium to beat the German journeywoman 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-3 and awaits the unseeded Petra Kvitova in round three.

Safina looked rigid and uninspiring in her opening round victory over wild card Olivia Rogowska and she produced another error-ridden display against world number 76 Barrois.

The Russian submitted a total of 15 double faults and 38 unforced errors before advancing in two hours and 13 minutes.

Draining

Barrois, 27, who was making her first second round appearance in a Grand Slam singles match, forced the first set into a tie-break after Safina squandered two chances to serve it out and it was not long until the German had a set point of her own.

Cue a horrendous double fault from Safina and after 57 minutes - a shock was on the cards.

But the 23-year-old immediately responded and despite coughing up another array of poor unforced errors, forced the encounter into a deciding set

The pendulum swung in Barrios' favour at the beginning of the decider as the German No.5 claimed an early break, but back came Safina, eventually stringing some quality play together and ironically clinched another draining contest when her opponent hit a second serve out.

The draw opened up further for Safina later on Thursday when number 19 seed Patty Schnyder was sent crashing out 6-3 3-6 7-5 by Italy's Sara Errani.

That result means Safina will avoid playing a seeded opponent until at least the semi-final stage.