Top-ranked Safina puts a scare into US Open

NEW YORK — Dinara Safina overcame a long, mistake-filled display of tennis Tuesday to barely avoid becoming the first top-seeded woman to lose in the first round of the U.S. Open.

She defeated 167th-ranked Olivia Rogowska of Australia 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 in a match that included 113 unforced errors, 24 double-faults and 15 service breaks over 2 hours, 35 minutes.

"I didn't break any rackets and didn't get any warnings," Safina said, when asked if there were any silver linings. "That's already positive."

She overcame a 3-0 deficit in the third set to avoid becoming the first top-seeded player to be ousted in the first round of any Grand Slam since Martina Hingis lost 6-4, 6-2 to Virginia Ruano Pascual at Wimbledon in 2001.

Safina served out her final game at love, forcing errors on Rogowska's ground strokes during one of the Russian's few sustained runs of consistency.

Safina's coach, Zeljko Krajan, was clearly having trouble watching it — slumping, scowling and shaking his head from his lonely seat in the stands.

Safina moves on, but all the questions about her worthiness as the world's No. 1 player will almost certainly gather steam.

No. 2 Serena Williams has won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. Safina doesn't yet have a career Grand Slam victory, getting blown out in all three finals she's been in.

It was the second big scare over the first two days on the U.S. Open show court. On Monday night, third-seeded Venus Williams overcame a balky knee and some shaky play for a 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3 win over Russia's Vera Dushevina.

That match looked like a Borg-McEnroe classic compared to Safina-Rogowska.

The first set was filled with tentative play and ended when Safina double-faulted for a 7-5 loss in the tiebreaker — the first serve barely making it halfway up the net, the second a good 3 inches out.

They slogged on and Rogowska, an 18-year-old with one win over a top-100 player, had chances to put a stranglehold on the match and put her name in the history books, even after she blew the 3-0 lead in the third.

Serving at 4-all and deuce in the final set, she chipped a slicing backhand deep into the corner and Safina lobbed it back, but Rogowska hit a tentative overhead, then failed to put away a pair of ensuing floaters and eventually got passed.