Dinara Safina ended her six match losing streak in the first round of the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego but lost in the following round already, in straight sets to fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-3. This is Radwanska’s first victory over former world No.1 Safina and their head-to-head record is 2-1 now.

Radwanska’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be Shahar Peer who advanced with a 7-5 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova. (photo by John Bolan)

Former world No.1 Dinara Safina defeated Alona Bondarenko 6-1 7-6(2) in the first round of the Mercury Insurance Open on Monday and snapped a six-match losing streak. Safina, whose season was hampered by a back injury, has slumped to No.35 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings and hadn’t won a match since Stuttgart in April.

In the match against Bondarenko Safina decided to take an aggressive approach and it paid off. Here’s what the 24-year-old Russian said:

I needed the win. Last week I lost a tiebreaker and in practice I lost one because I was playing defensive. Tonight I said I'm not going to play defensive and be aggressive and whatever happens, happens.

Very good news is that Safina claims her back is alright now:

I think my back is fine now. Every morning when I wake up and it feels good I say thanks.

Safina’s next opponent will be either fourth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska or Chanelle Scheepers, who reached the fourth round of the 2010 French Open. (source: Reuters, photo by our reader John Bolan)