PORTOROZ: Top-ranked Dinara Safina easily advanced to the second round of the Slovenia Open on Monday by beating Tadeja Majeric 6-0, 6-4.

Safina - the highest ranked woman ever to compete in the Portoroz tournament - was playing her first match since losing in the Wimbledon semifinals to Venus Williams.

Majeric, an 18-year-old Slovenian ranked 277th, seemed nervous at the start and won just eight points during the first set while double-faulting seven times.

However, Majeric broke in the third game of the second set, before Safina equalised to 3-3 and got a decisive break in the ninth game.

Also Monday, third-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia was upset by Olga Gotortsova of Belarus, 6-1, 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic advanced by beating Katie O'Brien of Britain 6-4, 6-4 while Petra Martic of Croatia ousted Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-3, 6-4. Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, the 2005 champion, beat Slovenia's Masa Zec Peskiric 6-2, 6-4, and Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay defeated Viktoriya Kutuzova of Ukraine, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (6).