Serena back at number one, Roddick out of China Open

Beijing: Serena Williams put herself back on top of the women’s world rankings with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Russian Ekaterina Makarova in the second round of the USD 6.6 million China Open on Tuesday.

Her American compatriot and defending men’s champion Andy Roddick, however, was humbled in his opening match, falling to a 6-2, 6-4 first round defeat at the hands of Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot. Dinara Safina’s defeat to 226th-ranked Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai on Monday had left the way open for Williams to end the Russian’s 25-week reign as number one and she never really looked like blowing her chance. The American second seed was broken in her first service game and made a meal of her last but converted her fourth match point to seal the victory, raising a single finger in the air in celebration of her return to the top.“I’m really excited,” said the 28-year-old. “Obviously I’m happy to be there because I’ve worked so hard this year to get there. I think I’ve earned it.” Shaky Sharapova If Williams’s victory was relatively straightforward, Maria Sharapova’s sensational fight back from 5-2 down in the third set to beat ninth seeded Belarussian Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 was anything but. The 15th seeded Russian, who clinched her first title since her return from injury in Tokyo last Saturday, was forced to come from behind time and again in a match that featured 16 breaks of serve, finally prevailing after three hours.Alternate shrieks pierced the air on centre court as the pair slugged it out from the baseline and Sharapova needed to produce sublime winners from both sides to return from the brink of defeat and take her place in the third round. “The match isn’t over until we shake hands,” said Sharapova. “I realised that I didn’t wanna be going home. I’m not leaving China that soon. So I just went forward and I kept being aggressive and stayed positive and that gets you a long way.” Fourth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva continued her winning run at the venue where she won Olympic gold last year with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Hungarian Melinda Czink, to set up a match against China’s number one Li Na in the last 16. The 2004 China Open champion Marat Safin earlier had a 6-4 6-2 first round win over Argentine Jose Acasuso to start one of his last events as he heads towards retirement. Seventh seed Fernando Gonzalez also progressed with a 7-5 6-4 win over Spain’s David Ferrer and American James Blake beat German qualifier Florian Mayer 6-3 3-6 6-3. Top seed Rafael Nadal returns from a layoff for an abdominal injury to play his opening match against fellow former China Open champion Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the following match on centre court. Bureau Report