Ivanovic off and running as Jankovic, Dementieva stumble

Ana Ivanovic opened her BNP Paribas Open title defence with a straight sets second round victory over qualifier Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus.

The fifth-seeded Serbian, 21, needed 85 minutes to post the 6-4 6-3 win to advance to the third round after improving her record this year to 9-3.

The world number seven lost the first three games of the match, but won 12 of the next 16 games to secure the win.

Her chances of retaining the title and winning a ninth of her career recieved a massive boost as second seed Jelena Jankovic and third seed Elena Dementieva both crashed out.

World number three Jankovic succumbed 6-4 6-4 to 17-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who is ranked 42 in the world, while in-form world number four Dementieva lost 7-6 (7/2) 2-6 6-1 to Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska in just over two hours.

Former Indian Wells finalist Dementieva, who has reached three finals this year and won in Auckland and Sydney before reaching the Australian Open semi-finals, served 14 double-faults, winning just 50% of points on her first serve and 37% on her second.

Both players were broken eight times each, but world number 71 Cetkovska prevailed to record her first career win over Dementieva.

Meanwhile, two-time Indian Wells champion Daniela Hantuchova saved two match points at 5-6 down in the third set of her her second round meeting with Yanina Wickmayer before edging through 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7/4).

Seeds Agnieszka Radwanska, Flavia Pennetta, Alisa Kleybanova, Agnes Szavay, Sybille Bammer and Aleksandra Wozniak also advanced, but Alize Cornet, Dominika Cibulkova, Zheng Jie, Ai Sugiyama and Sara Errani failed to progress.

Seventh seed Radwanska beat Australia's Samantha Stosur 3-6 6-3 7-5, while 12th seeded Italian Pennetta beat Indian wildcard Sania Mirza 6-3 6-4.

France's Cornet, the 11th seed, lost in straight sets to German qualifier Kristina Barrois, while Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives beat 14th seed Cibulkova and Russia's Vera Dushevina ended the challenge of China's Zheng in straight sets.

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