Tough passage for Safina

Sixth seed Dinara Safina had to work hard to beat Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-3 to reach the US Open third round.

The younger sister of Murat Safin has won three WTA Tour titles this year as well as an Olympic silver medal and has been named as many experts' outsider to challenge in New York.

But Safina struggled to find any consistency in a tight first set at Flushing Meadows.

Things did not get any easier for the 22-year-old in the second set but she eventually wore down Vinci to seal her passage to the third round.