Top seed Safina pulls off great escape in Cincinnati

CINCINNATI, Ohio (Reuters) - World number one Dinara Safina pulled off a great escape on Tuesday as she scrambled past Italian Roberta Vinci 2-6 7-5 6-4 to reach the third round of the Cincinnati Open.

World number 46 Vinci served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but her nerve failed her at the crucial time.

Safina was spraying the ball everywhere early on and Vinci took advantage to lead by a set and 3-0.

After being pegged back to 3-3, Vinci broke to lead 5-4 but could not serve out and the Russian snatched the set before recovering from a break down in the decider.

There was better news for another Italian, 14th seed Flavia Pennetta, who followed up her tournament win in Los Angeles last weekend with a 6-2 6-3 win over Ayumi Morita of Japan in the first round.

In other first-round action, Daniela Hantuchova recovered from a slow start to beat Italy's Sara Errani 3-6 6-3 6-1 in a match lasting more than two and a half hours.

Later on Tuesday, third seed Venus Williams plays Olga Govortsova of Belarus for a place in the third round.

(Editing by Justin Palmer)