Stosur rolls on in Los Angeles

Australian Samantha Stosur's impressive return to the court has taken another step at the Los Angeles Open.

Stosur moved into the third round of the women's tour event with a tight straight-sets win over Russia's Regina Kulikova.

Stosur followed up her shock first-round win over 12th seed Shahar Peer with a 7-6 (6-4) 7-5 result against Kulikova.

She will now face Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, the No.8 seed at the event.

Stosur returned to the top 100 in the world rankings this week. It is the first time the Olympics-bound Stosur has been ranked in double digits since making a return from illness.

Azarenka set up the third-round showdown with a 6-1 6-3 win over or Chan-Yung-Jan.

Others to progress were Russian Dinara Safina, compatriot Nadia Petrova and Flavia Pennetta of Italy.

However, Czech star Nicole Vaidisova was crushed in an upset result.

The No.11 seed went down to Bethanie Mattek 6-4 6-0.

East West Bank Classic, Los Angeles

Second round results
4-Dinara Safina (Russia) def. Peng Shuai (China) 6-2 6-2
Ai Sugiyama (Japan) def. 7-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 6-4 7-5
8-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) def. Chan-Yung-Jan (Taipei) 6-1 6-3
9-Nadia Petrova (Russia) def. Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) 6-1 3-6 6-1
10-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) def. Tamira Paszek (Austria) 2-6 6-1 6-4
Bethanie Mattek (USA) def. 11-Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-0
14-Sybille Bammer (Austria) def. Stéphanie Dubois (Canada) 6-3 7-5
Samantha Stosur (Australia) def. Regina Kulikova (Russia) 7-6 (6-4) 7-5
Melanie South (Britain) def. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-2
Melinda Czink (Hungary) def. Olga Savchuk (Ukraine) 6-4 2-6 6-4