Auckland:
Defending champion Yanina Wickmayer survived a titanic first-round battle when she outlasted former world number one Dinara Safina in a three-set encounter at the Auckland Classic here Tuesday.
In the clash of the power hitters, Belgium's Wickmayer held out to win 6-3, 6-7 (2/7) 6-1 in a match that lasted two hours 10 minutes.
The unseeded Safina, whose world ranking dropped to 63 as she struggled with injury over the past year, was a late entry to the Auckland classic and took time to get into the match as Wickmayer raced through the first set.
But the second set was far more intense as the pair engaged in a series of power-hitting rallies and desperate returns before Safina triumphed in an epic tiebreak 7/2.
But the Russian was unable to maintain the momentum in the third set which Wickmayer cleaned up 6-1 to move on to a second-round meeting with German qualifier Sabine Lisicki.
"I think we played some amazing points, both of us," Wickmayer said, conceding she had been outplayed towards the end of the second set.
"The service games I lost at the end, she made three unbelievable winners," she said.
"In the third, I tried to start off well and be aggressive again, but we both played a great match."
Wickmayer said the match was ideal for her build-up towards the first Grand Slam of the year.
"In preparation for the Australian Open, that's what we're looking for -- good matches, good rhythm -- and that's what I had today."
Among the other top players in action on the second day, seventh seed Elena Vesnina recovered from an early service break to beat New Zealander Marina Erakovic 6-2, 6-2 while Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, the ninth seed, beat Romina Oprandi of Italy 6-3, 7-6 (9/7).
Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm was the first seed to bow out of the tournament when the fifth seed was beaten 4-6, 3-6 by Kateryna Bondarenko from the Ukraine in the late-night game on Monday.