World number one Serena made the worst possible start against Italian Sara Errani, surrendering the first four games as she dropped the first set.

The American, however, hit back in typically pugnacious style to win the second-round match 4-6 6-2 6-0.

By contrast, sixth seed Venus took just 57 minutes to sweep aside Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-0 6-1.

Venus did not face a break point and fired seven aces on the way to her quickfire victory.

Holder Elena Dementieva, who lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the final of the Paris Open on Sunday, began her Dubai campaign with a 7-5 6-2 triumph over Austrian left-hander Sybille Bammer.

Dementieva is the number four seed this week.

Safina, who has reached two finals this year including the Australian Open, produced a wretched performance against Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano and was beaten 6-4 6-2.

The world number two from Russia looked completely out of touch and Razzano often had to do little more than wait for Safina to lose the point.

Safina hit 12 double-faults, struck some superb winners but also made careless errors.

BEST MATCHES

"She played I think one of her best matches and I was not there," Safina told reporters. "I didn't give myself the chance to play.

"It was one of those days today. I guess sometimes it happens.

"You're feeling good, playing great in practice and you expect to play like that in the match. But sometimes it takes time to transfer your form into the match."

World number three Jelena Jankovic was constantly kept guessing during her 6-3 6-2 victory over Romania's Monica Niculescu.

"She's an unusual player," said Serb Jankovic. "She plays two-handed on both sides and comes up with slices and some kind of drop shots.

"I always had to be alert and be ready for any kind of shot. It was difficult too because the sun was very strong and sometimes I would toss the ball and wouldn't see it."

Fifth seed Vera Zvonareva beat fellow Russian Vera Dushevina 6-0 6-3, 10th seed Alize Cornet of France crushed German qualifier Julia Schruff 6-1 6-2 and 11th seed Marion Bartoli of France defeated Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-6 3-6 6-3.