Jankovic leads seeded juggernaut in California

 Following on was Russian number four Nadia Petrova, Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli and former champion Martina Hingis.

 Aside from one Fed Cup rubber, world number three Jankovic has not played since losing in the Wimbledon fourth round to Bartoli a month ago.

 The Jankovic victory equalled her two previous performances at the venue.

 Petrova put out fellow Russian Elena Bovina 6-3, 7-5 while Bartoli pronounced herself back on form after a loss last week in Stanford due to illness.

 The number 12 player's win over Japan's Aiko Nakamura 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 assured her she is against making progress.

 "I'm back to health. This was only my second match since Wimbledon. I recovered from last week and did my job well today.

 "Things have changed for me, I'm now the target for other players. I'm feeling fine now and not struggling like I was last week."

   Eighth-seeded Hingis showed no signs of the back and hip pain which have bothered her since March as she overcame a first-set lull to beat Michaella Krajicek 7-5, 6-2.

 The Dutch challenger saved set points in the first before Hingis took control for the victory.

 "I'm being re-born this year," said the Swiss. "This is the first time in months that I've felt like myself on court. I'm still a little rusty, but it's nothing a few more matches won't cure."

   India's Sania Mirza claimed a challenging psychological victory, overcoming friend and doubles partners Shahar Peer 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

 "Neither of us was happy to see that we had drawn the other," said the 20-year-old winner, who lost Sunday's final at Stanford to Russian Anna Chakvetadze.

 "It was the toughest first round I could have had. I played well under the circumstances."

   Mirza, ranked 31st with one WTA title from 2005, earned an early upset over the 12th seeded Peer as the popular tournament goes into its final edition, a victim of a 2008 calendar shakeup which saw it buried.

 Mirza said that she got anxious as she aimed to take care of business in just two sets to save some energy.

 That plan had to be revised as Peer rallied in the eighth game of the second set and eventually took the tight contest into a deciding third.

 "I wanted to finish in two, but you have to change your attitude if you don't do it," said Mirza. "You can't focus on what didn't happen."

   Two seeds moved through into the second round.

 Number 15 Sybille Bammer of Austria beat Ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) while 16th-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova ousted American Meilen Tu 6-4, 6-3.

dpa