Top seed Serena Williams had to toil to get past Russian Dinara Safina 6-4, 3-6 and 6-3 in the second round at the 585,000 China Open in Beijing on September 22.

Serena Williams of US reacts a ball in the WTA tour of the China Open in Beijing Sept.22, 2004. Williams beat her Russian rival 2:1 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

Former world number one Williams split the first two sets with unseeded Safina, whose brother Marat Safin clinched the China Open ATP title here on Sunday.

The 18-year-old Safina broke Williams in the opening game of the decisive third set before she served her own game to take a 2-0 lead.

Williams was on the verge of losing her second service game at 15-40 down before the American 23-year-old managed to claw back with successfully baseline rally and finally sealed the game as Safina hit the ball too wide.

Safina held her own service game but it was Williams who gradually took control and carried on to win the following four games, during which Safina could not help throwing her racquet on the court twice and committed a double fault.

"I was so tired and lost concentration in the third set," Safina said. "I think I have to work harder on my physical condition."

"I am trying to find my game and now I just enjoy it," said Safina, who is going to play her second tournament in China Monday at the Guangzhou International Women's Open.

Williams won the seesaw battle in the third game of the third set, which turned up to be the turning point for her to finally win the match and she was satisfied with her coolness under stress.

"In the middle of the match, Safina was just hitting the ball really hard and it was difficult for me to handle," said Williams.

"But I tried to stay cool. I played better and was more relaxed," she said about her overall performance.

China Open WTA Tour results

Following are the WTA Tour results of China Open here on Wednesday (prefix number denotes seeding).

Second Round

Women's singles

1-Serena Williams, United States, bt Dinara Safin, Russia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

3-Maria Sharapova, Russia, bt Tatiana Panova, 6-1, 6-1

Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spain, bt Tamarine Tanasugarn, Thailand, 6-4, 6-4

6-Gisela Dulko, Argentina, bt Maria Vento-Kabchi, Venezuela, 6-4, 6-4

First round

7-Jelena Jankovic, Serbia and Montenegro, bt Shinobu Asagoe, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6

5-Nadia Petrova, Russia, bt Zheng Jie, China, 6-2, 6-2 Women doubles

2-Li Ting/Sun Tiantian, China, bt Jennifer Hopkins, United States/Janiter Lee, Chinese Taipei

Source: Xinhua