seeded Caroline Wozniacki came back from 5-1 down in the second set to beat Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-6 (2) in the second round of the Dubai Championships Tuesday. Wozniacki, at a career-high world No. 3 ranking, impressively rallied to 5-5 then shot through the tiebreaker. Also advancing after first-round byes were defending champion Venus Williams, second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 8 Li Na. But 2008 champion Elena Dementieva had to retire with a right shoulder injury. Williams, seeded second but the tournament favorite, beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-2, 6-3. Kuznetsova moved into the third round when Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain withdrew with a lower back injury, and Azarenka was leading US Open quarterfinalist Kateryna Bondarenko 4-1 when the latter retired with a sprained left knee. Dementieva, seeded fifth, was losing to Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 1-1 when she quit in pain. Li was pushed all the way by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain to win 7-6 (7), 2-6, 6-4. Wozniacki next plays Shahar Peer, who scored a high quality win for the second successive day Tuesday. Having beaten the 13th seeded Yanina Wickmayer in the first round, Peer now outplayed Virginie Razzano, last year's runnerup, by 6-2, 6-2. Elsewhere Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Aravane Rezai of France 4-6, 6-4, 7-5; Flavia Pennetta of Italy beat Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-3, 6-3; Victoria Azarenka of Belarus advanced after Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine retired hurt at 4-1; Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia beat Tathiana Garbin of Italy 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Olga Govortsova of Belarus beat 14-Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 6-4; Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany beat Alicia Molik of Australia 6-4, 6-4. Llodra advances In France, former finalist Michael Llodra rallied to beat fellow Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Open 13 Tuesday. Llodra served 17 aces and broke qualifier Roger-Vasselin three times. Llodra will play Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the second round of the indoor hardcourt tournament. Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine also advanced, beating Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and will take on top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden in the next round. Lucky loser Illya Marchenko of Ukraine beat Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. On Monday, Baghdatis cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win against Daniel Brands in the first round. Florent Serra of France also advanced in straight sets, beating Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-3, 6-3. Serra did not face a single break point and converted all three of his breakpoint chances. Mischa Zverez of Germany beat David Guez of France 7-6 (3), 6
