Safina blasts organisers as Jankovic struggles through

Rome, May 06: World number one Dinara Safina blasted organisers for making her play on a treacherous court after she reached the third round of the WTA Rome International.

The Russian was initially made to work hard before coming through 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 against France's Virginie Razzano yesterday.

Double reigning champion Jelena Jankovic was pushed to the brink by Argentine Gisela Dulko before going through 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) after her match had been delayed for three and a half hours by a torrential downpour.

But Safina, whose match started after the rain, complained that the weather had made the courts too soft and dangerous as it was difficult to slide.

"I was just so angry because you can get injured," said Safina, who fell over twice during her match.

"I mean, it's not funny. They tell us go and play because they think the court is fine but they are not playing on that court. Thank God I didn't break anything but if I broke something, I mean, so many players get injured.”

"Then what should I say to the tournament? I (should) say thanks for pushing us to play? I mean, they would say: oh, we are sorry. But it's my career, it's three months off court (if you're injured). So they have to have a little bit of respect for us as players."

Safina struggled throughout the first set, dropping serve in the first and seventh games but breaking straight back on both occasions.

However, once she entered the tie-break it was a different matter as she took total command.

She sealed the tie-break 7-1 with a service winner and then romped through the second set for the loss of only one game.

The top seed will play Chinese 14th seed Zheng Jie in the 3rd round after she defeated Russian Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2.

Third seed Jankovic was far from her best and was forced to stay on court for almost two hours by a dogged opponent who had been a first round loser here in four out of five previous appearances.

The Serbian, the world number four, ultimately gained revenge on Dulko, who beat her in the second round in Miami last month.

But Jankovic was disappointed she had not wrapped up the match earlier having been up a break in the second.

"I just let her come back into the match. I was angry at myself because I was thinking that I should have already finished this match," she said.

"It was very difficult for me because I let her come back and she almost won that second set because I made mistakes and I kind of stopped playing.