Russia's Dinara Safina returns the ball during her match against Russia's Elena Dementieva at final of the German Open tennis tournament in Berlin, Sunday, May 11, 2008.
Photo: AP, AP
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Safina Won German Open
First time in her career, Russia’s Dinara Safina won the first-category title. Safina stole the show at the German Open tournament, when she overwhelmed Justine Henin, Serena Williams and finally Elena Dementieva en route to the Golden Falcon.
Safina had had only five trophies until past Sunday and there were no particular grounds to expect her to manifest the brilliant performance in Germany, the more so that the tournament had lured really illustrious players – only Maria Sharapova had declined to attend despite the penalty of $125,000. Dinara wasn’t particularly optimistic either. “If anyone had told me a week ago I would be in the final, I would have staked a half of the prize against it,” Safina said.
But the general lack of optimism notwithstanding, the tournament's 13-seed Russian saw off world number one Justine Henin and then Serena Williams. Dinara had never won a set from Henin and had never won a match from Williams before that German Open. Inspired by those two victories, Safina easily defeated Victoria Azarenka in the semi-final to face her compatriot Elena Dementieva in the final standoff. Dementieva overwhelmed world number two Ana Ivanovic Saturday.
On Sunday, Safina showed her fiery temper on court at the beginning and lost the first set but calmed down to pressurize in the second one and was perfect in the decider. The score of 3-6 6-2 6-2 leaves no doubts about the current form of Dinara.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 12, 2008
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