Wimbledon champion Serena Williams battled past China's Li Na 6-3, 7-6 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Stanford Classic, where she will be joined by sister Venus, 6-2, 6-3 victor over Canada's Stephanie Dubois. Top seed Serena jumped out to a 6-3, 5-2 lead behind some razor-sharp groundstrokes before the hard-hitting Li fought back to force a tiebreaker. However, the 11-time Grand Slam champion showed more ambition in the tiebreaker and secured the contest when Li hit a backhand into the net. Two former Stanford champions were beaten on Tuesday, last year's winner Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada losing 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to Daniela Hantuchova and 2007 champ Anna Chakvetadze was beaten 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 by Maria Kirilenko. Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic cruised past American Angela Haynes 6-3, 6-1, while Marion Bartoli of France beat Ayumi Morita of Japan 7-6, 6-3. Isner, Safin win openers Big-serving American John Isner produced the first upset at the LA Open with a 7-6, 7-6 victory over seventh-seeded German Benjamin Becker in the opening round on Tuesday. Eighth-seeded Russian Marat Safin was in early trouble against American Robby Ginepri before recovering to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Sixth-seeded American Sam Querrey thumped Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-0 in the day's final match. Fifth-seeded Russian Igor Kunitsyn eased into the second round with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman and Argentina's Leonardo Mayer crushed French qualifier Josselin Ouanna 6-2, 6-3. Davydenko, Ferrer advance In Croatia, top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko continued his winning streak by beating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the Croatia Open on Wednesday. He'll next play Alberto Martin of Spain, who defeated Slovakian qualifier Martin Klizan 6-4, 6-4. Second-seeded David Ferrer of Spain beat Daniel Koellerer of Austria, 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-3, but third-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia lost to Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6). Sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro beat Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-3 in an all-Spanish match. The only remaining Croatian player, Ivan Ljubicic, scored his fourth victory in five clashes against Filippo Volandri, defeating the Italian 6-1, 6-4. Domachowska upsets Rezai In Istanbul, Marta Domachowska of Poland reached her first quarterfinals since April when she upset fourth-seeded Aravane Rezai of France 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the second round of the Istanbul Cup on Wednesday. Fifth-seeded Vera Dushevina of Russia rolled past Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 6-0, 6-1, avenging a second-round loss at Portoroz last week, and seventh-seeded Olga Govortsova of Belarus topped Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6
