Tue, 08/10/2010 - 09:47 by Prince damin
Cincinnati -- Struggling Dinara Safina was among the first-round winners Monday at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati.
Safina is a former world No. 1 but came into the event unseeded after dropping seven of her previous eight matches. She got off to a good start Monday, however, prevailing in straight sets over Italian Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-4 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
Safina is seeking to regain her form in Cincinnati, where last year she gained the finals before bowing to Serbia's Jelena Jankovic.
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Wed, 05/26/2010 - 10:45 by Pankaj Damin
Paris -- Dinara Safina, who lost the finals in the tournament each of the last two years, was a first-round loser Tuesday at the French Open.
Safina, the No. 9 seed, is 5-6 in 2010 after losing 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to Kimiko Date Krumm. Safina led 4-1 in the third set before Date Krumm fought back. It was Safina's 17th double fault of the day that resulted in a sixth service break, ending the match.
Safina was a finalist in Paris in both 2008 and 2009 but has won only eight of 19 matches since back problems surfaced last year.
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Wed, 05/05/2010 - 10:25 by Rakhi
Rome -- Serena and Venus Williams were straight-set winners Tuesday but Dinara Safina was ousted in second-round play of the $2 million Italian Masters in Rome.
Serena Williams, the world No. 1, disposed of Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 while sister Venus, the No. 4 seed in Rome, topped Patty Schnyder in an efficient 6-2, 6-2.
Also No. 2-seeded Caroline Wozniacki rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 rout of Maria Elena Camerin.
But the third-seeded Safina's problems continued. Her play has been curtailed by back issues and the 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 loss Tuesday to Alexandra Dulgheru was her third in her last four matches. Safina, the event's defending champion, had nine double faults and dropped serve nine times in 14 service games.
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Fri, 04/30/2010 - 09:40 by Rakhi
Stuttgart, Germany -- No. 2-seeded Dinara Safina, in her first match in three months, claimed a three-set, win Thursday at the $700,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Germany.
Safina, whose play has been limited by back problems, topped Agnes Szavay in a see-saw 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-0. Safina dominated the third set after fighting through five double faults and five service breaks in the first two sets in advancing to the clay-court tournament's quarterfinals.
Lucie Safarova knocked off top-seeded and world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-4 earlier Thursday. Safarova only won eight more points (58-50) over the course of the match but didn't face a break point.
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Sun, 01/24/2010 - 21:11 by Inderjit Singh
Melbourne -- Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, two of the top three seeded women, are out of the field of the Australian Open after Sunday's fourth-round play.
Safina, a finalist at the event a year ago and seeded second in 2010, withdrew when a lingering back issue limited her play and the third-seeded Kuznetsova fell to 19th-seeded Nadia Petrova.
It was the second big win in as many matches for Petrova, who knocked off U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-1 Friday. Sunday's 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 win over Kuznetsova wasn't as lop-sided but got Petrova into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the second time.
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Wed, 01/13/2010 - 20:42 by Inderjit Singh
Sydney -- World No. 2 Dinara Safina was defeated in straight sets Wednesday by Elena Dementieva at the Medibank International tournament in Sydney.
Safina, who lost a three-set decision to Dementieva in an all-Russian final at the Medibank International last year, lost five of eight service games in falling 6-2, 6-3 in this year's quarterfinals to the fifth-seeded Dementieva.
Dementieva won more points (30-26) on Safina's serve than the world No. 2 did. Safina has lost four of her last six matches, dating to last September.
American Serena Williams, the No. 1 women's player in the world, was on the court just 61 minutes in a 6-2, 6-2 rout of Vera Dushevina. Williams lost only 10 points over eight service games.
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Thu, 10/29/2009 - 10:07 by shalini.bahadur
Doha, Qatar -- Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus Wednesday at the Sony Ericsson Championships and also learned she would end the year as the No. 1 player in the world.
Williams went into the season-ending event ranked second behind Dinara Safina and needed to post more victories this week than Safina to pass her and claim the top spot. Safina, however, retired from her opening round-robin match Wednesday and gave up a chance to end the season as No. 1 for the first time in her career.
It is the second time Williams has concluded a season ranked on top. She also did so in 2002.
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Wed, 10/28/2009 - 10:47 by shalini.bahadur
Doha, Qatar -- Serena Williams opened with a win and Venus Williams with a loss Tuesday in the Sony Ericsson Championship -- the year's last event on the women's tennis tour.
The eight-player tournament divides the players into two groups and those within each group play a round-robin schedule to determine Saturday's semifinalists.
The Williams sisters are in the same group along with Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva. Serena defeated Kuznetsova, the French Open champion, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.
Dementieva won for the first time in seven tries against Venus 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
In the other group, Victoria Azarenka was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic. Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki will not play until Wednesday.
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Mon, 10/26/2009 - 18:11 by Inderjit Singh
Daytona Beach -- Dinara Safina regained the world No. 1 women's tennis ranking and the Williams sisters both saw their ratings slip.
The WTA women's Top 10 underwent major changes -- only three players are ranked the same as they were last week -- with the tour starting its $4.6 million Sony Ericsson Championships Monday in Doha, Qatar.
Safina has been in a slump in which she has lost four of her last seven matches. That cost her the No. 1 ranking about a month ago but Monday she moved back ahead of Serena Williams, now at No. 2, by 155 ratings points.
Svetlana Kuznetsova retained the world No. 3 ranking but Caroline Wozniacki jumped two spots to a career-best No. 4. Elena Dementieva is again ranked No. 5.
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Mon, 10/12/2009 - 17:58 by shalini.bahadur
Daytona Beach, Fla., Oct. 12: Serena Williams officially retook the No. 1 spot in women's tennis Monday, passing a slumping Dinara Safina.
Williams is 19-6, including a win at Wimbledon, since the start of the French Open and was among those who questioned Safina's rise to No. 1. In rankings released Monday, Williams has 7,945 points while Safina is right behind at 7,940.
Safina became No. 1 April 20 and initially played well but is 3-4 over her last four events, including losses to players ranked 132nd and 226th over her last two tournaments.
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Mon, 10/05/2009 - 00:14 by Salinder Kumar
Beijing -- Top seeds Dinara Safina of Russia and American Serena Williams posted straight-set victories Sunday in the first-round of the China Open in Beijing.
Safina, the No. 1 seed, eliminated Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-4, 6-4 and Williams, seeded second, defeated Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 7-5, 6-4.
Three seeded Russian players were among others who advanced. Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva whipped Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-4, 6-4, sixth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova outlasted China's Jie Zheng 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 and Vera Zvonareva, No. 7, routed Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-2.
Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez upset fifth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-0.
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Mon, 09/28/2009 - 22:29 by Salinder Kumar
Tokyo -- Dinara Safina, Venus Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova, three of the top six ranked women, were bounced Monday from the $2 million Toray Pan Pacific Open.
Safina, whose play has been erratic despite her No. 1 ranking, fell 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5 to qualifier Kai-Chen Chang, ranked 132nd. The loss dropped Safina to 2-3 over her last three tournaments. All five matches went three sets.
Monday, Safina managed eight aces but more than offset those with nine double faults. She led 5-3 in the third set before Chang ran off four consecutive games to claim the second-round match.
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