INDIAN WELLS (California), March 14 Polish wildcard Urszula Radwanska ended Svetlana Kuznetsova's hopes of reaching a third straight Indian Wells final, ousting the sixth-seeded Russian in the second round on Friday.

Radwanska, ranked 107th in the world, triumphed 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, but not before an ankle injury appeared to jeopardize her chances of even completing the final game.

After breaking Kuznetsova in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead in the third set, Radwanska faltered on her first match point in the next game.

On her second opportunity, she fell to the court as she tried in vain to reach a ball from Kuznetsova, and sat still for several minutes behind the baseline.

Eventually she was helped to her chair, and her ankle taped. Radwanska then gingerly trotted out to serve, and Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, dumped a backhand volley into the net to give the Pole a third match point, which she converted as Kuznetsova hit a forehand into the net.

The defeat ended Kuznetsova's hopes of improving on her two runner-up finishes at this combined ATP Masters series and WTA tournament the past two years. In 2007 she lost to Daniela Hantuchova and last year to Serbian Ana Ivanovic.

Meanwhile, Kuznetsova's top-seeded compatriot Dinara Safina made it safely into the third round of the 4.5 million-dollar event.

The women's world number two, opening her campaign after a first-round bye, beat Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 7-6 (10-8), 6-2, to line up a meeting with 28th-seeded Peng Shuai of China, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 winner over Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

Safina surrendered the first break of the match to fall behind 4-5 in the first set, but immediately broke back. She then saved four set-points in the tiebreaker before cruising through the second set against the 50th-ranked player in the world.

Safina, 22, was trounced by Serena Williams in the Australian Open final in January, and was unceremoniously ousted in the first round at Dubai in February.

But with neither Serena nor her sister Venus entered here, Safina now has her eye on supplanting Serena atop the world rankings.

Fourth-seeded Vera Zvonareva advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan of Taiwan.
Eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus rallied for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan, while ninth-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky.

Former world number one Amelie Mauresmo fended off an upset bid, battling to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

The French veteran, seeded 17th and ranked 20th in the world, ended a two-year victory drought when she won the Paris Open title last month.

Against Groenefeld, however, Mauresmo had her problems. She trailed 1-3 in the third set before reeling off four straight games, finally sealing the victory after three hours.

“It was not a great level, but the main thing was done today. It was to win and to go through this first match, which wasn't so easy.”

Serbian stars Jelena Jankovic and Ivanovic are scheduled to open their campaigns on Saturday, as is third-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva.

Jankovic, the second seed, will play Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a night match.

Ivanovic, the fifth seed, launches her defence of the title against Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus and Dementieva plays Czech Petra Cetkovska.

Friday's results (prefix number denotes seeding)

Men's
First round Nicolas Massu (Chile) bt Eduardo Schwank (Argentina) 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 6-4; John Isner (US) bt Christophe Rochus (Belgium) 6-1, 6-4; Martin Vassallo Arguello (Argentina) bt Rik De Voest (South Africa) 7-5, 7-6(3); Viktor Troicki (Serbia) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 7-5, 2-1 (Youzhny retired); Bobby Reynolds (US) bt Fabio Fognini (Italy) 4-6, 6-0, 6-2; Robert Kendrick (US) bt Bjorn Phau (Germany) 7-5, 6-2; Taylor Dent (US) bt Diego Junqueira (Argentina) 6-1, 7-6(3); Michael Russell (US) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 7-5, 6-2; Tommy Haas (Germany) bt Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 6-3, 6-3; Jeremy Chardy (France) bt Victor Hanescu (Romania) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-2, 4-1 (Chela retired); Sam Querrey (US) bt Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 7-6(2), 6-2; Ryan Sweeting (US) bt Wayne Odesnik (US) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(5); Daniel Koellerer (Austria) bt Mischa Zverev (Germany) 2-6, 7-5, 6-2; Todd Widom (US) bt Ivan Navarro (Spain) 6-4, 7-6(4) Michael Berrer (Germany) bt Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 6-3, 6-3.

Women's

Second round Urszula Radwanska (Poland) bt 6-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Alexa Glatch (US) bt 29-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-3, 6-1; Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt 26-Iveta Benesova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-1; Jill Craybas (US) bt 16-Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 7-5, 3-6, 6-4; 19-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 6-3, 7-5; Alexa Glatch (US) bt 29-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 6-3, 6-1; Li Na (China) bt 13-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 7-5, 6-2; 4-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) bt Chan Yung-Jan (Taiwan) 6-2, 6-2; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt 32-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3; 1-Dinara Safina (Russia) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 7-6(8), 6-2; 8-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) bt 24-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) 6-3, 6-1; Shahar Peer (Israel) bt 10-Marion Bartoli (France) 1-6, 6-4, 7-5; 18-Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) bt Virginie Razzano (France) 7-6(2), 1-0 (Razzano retired); 17-Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; 28-Peng Shuai (China) bt Olga Govortsova (Belarus) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; 9-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland) 6-1, 6-1.

Thursday's results

Men's
First round Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) bt Vincent Spadea (US) 6-3, 6-4; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Julien Benneteau (France) 6-3, 6-2; Albert Montanes (Spain) bt Florent Serra (FRA) 6-3, 6-0.

Women's

First round Anastasiya Yakimova (Belarus) bt Varvara Lepchenko (US) 6-4, 6-1; Vera Dushevina (Russia) bt Petra Martic (Croatia) 6-4, 6-3; Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) bt Marta Domachowska (Poland) 6-1, 6-3.—Agencies