Second seed Dinara Safina and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic are being as blue as their adidas outfits at the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, as both exited the tournament in the third round already.

The Russian world No.2 Safina lost 6-1 6-4 to Australian Samantha Stosur, while last week’s finalist at Indian Wells, Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, fell to unfortunately almost-forgotten Agnes Szavay of Hungary.

"It just bad match for me, it was just a disaster match," Safina commented.

After being upset Ivanovic said: "I hardly did anything well today. I was trying to come in and I was volleying pretty well at times, but I was really disappointed. I couldn't really hold my serve." (source: BBC, photos via Ana Ivanovic's website, Sony Ericsson Open)

Dinara Safina had a chance of overtaking Serena Williams’ No.1 ranking. Had Safina reached the finals at Indian Wells she would have climbed to the top of the rankings, but the Russian lost to Victoria Azarenka 6-7 6-1 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Safina is aware that the ranking will come with improved game, and she believes the key is to return her aggressiveness on court.

I'm not thinking about this [the ranking] because if it comes, it comes. If I play like this, definitely it will not come. I played three rounds before and I was struggling with every player that I'm playing. With everyone I played, they were either serving for the set, or had set points. I have to finally start playing my game, because I'm not playing it. I just want for the next tournament (in Miami next week) to finally play my game and play like I've been playing like last year. Since Australia, I'm playing defensive, and it's not me. I just want to play aggressive.

(source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who has reached the final at Indian Wells for the last two years, fell in the second round to wildcard Urszula Radwanska. Top seed Dinara Safina survived a tough test before beating Tsvetana Pironkova.

Kuznetsova was overpowered by the world No.107 Radwanska 6-2 4-6 6-3, despite a comeback in the second set.

Safina saved multiple set points in the first-set tiebreak before easing through the second set and beating the Bulgarian world No.50 7-6(8) 6-2. Safina will meet seed No.28 Shuai Peng of China in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Safina, ranked 2nd in the world, can replace Serena Williams atop the WTA Tour rankings by reaching the Indian Wells final, as Williams is not playing the tournament. (sources: ESPN, Reuters, photo by our reader Jacob)

Some women’s tennis players have united to raise funds and morale of those affected by bushfires in Victoria, Australia.

Dinara Safina, Casey Dellacqua, Daniela Hantuchova, Ana Ivanovic, Samantha Stosur, Rennae Stubbs, Ai Sugiyama and Serena Williams have donated personal items of value, which will be auctioned off to raise money for the Tennis Bushfire Relief Appeal.

"What has happened in Australia is shocking and so sad, and I would like to send my deepest sympathies to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy," said 2008 Australian Open runner-up Ana Ivanovic.  "I have family in Melbourne and was very concerned for the safety and welfare of their friends in Victoria.  Australians have a great spirit, and my thoughts are with them."

"My prayers go out to everyone involved. It's such a sad and unfortunate event to happen and the loss of life has been tragic," said 2009 Australian Open champion Serena Williams.  "I admire the heroism of those who risked their lives to help others." (source: Tennis Australia, photos: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Dinara Safina was upset by Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-2 in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, while all the other seeded players progressed on Tuesday.

The Australian Open finalist Safina was erratic, inconsistent and hit 12 double faults.

"She played I think one of her best matches and I was not there," said the Russian world No.2. "I didn't give myself the chance to play. It was one of those days today and I'll just have to forget it and get ready for Indian Wells."

All the other seeds were victorious today, including top seed Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Venus Williams, Alize Cornet, Marion Bartoli, Dominika Cibulkova, Zheng Jie, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Kaia Kanepi. All their victories came in straight sets, except Serena Williams’ over Sara Errani (4-6 6-2 6-0), Marion Bartoli’s over Francesca Schiavone (7-6 3-6 6-3) and Zheng Jie’s over Samantha Stosur (3-6 7-5 7-5). (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)