Radwanska powers past Scheepers at Stanford tennis

Stanford: Red-hot Agnieszka Radwanska beat South Africa`s Chanelle Scheepers 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round of the 700,000 dollar WTA Bank of the West Classic.

The third seeded Radwanska, of Poland, registered both of her aces in the third set and won both of her break points. Radwanska has won four of her last five matches after winning four of her previous 10. She advanced to the semis at Indian Wells and Dubai and the fourth round at Wimbledon, Scheepers, ranked 91st, had a strong outing at the French Open earlier this year, reaching the fourth round as a qualifier. On June 7 she cracked the top 100 in the world for the first time.A pair of former world number ones Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and Dinara Safina of Russia had mixed results Monday. Wild card Ivanovic beat Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-2. Ivanovic is now ranked 63rd in the world.Safina was eliminated by Japan`s Kimiko Date Krumm 4-6, 7-6 (7/0), 6-2 in two hours, 22 minutes. Safina, currently the 35th ranked player, has lost six straight matches. In other first round matches, Olga Govortsova defeated Alla Kudryavtsena 6-1, 6-1 and Dominika Cibulkova downed American Hilary Barte 6-2, 6-2. Bureau Report