Dinara Safina - Russian Tennis Star

Tennis career

On July 29, 2002, she entered into the top 100. Dinara Safina also won her first WTA title in Sopot, beating Henrietta Nagyova in the final. In doing so she became the youngest Tour champion in four years and the first qualifier to win a title in three years. In the same year, at the age of 16 in Moscow, she defeated a top 20 player for the first time, (Silvia Farina Elia), who was seeded 14th.

On July 14, 2003, she broke into the top 50. She won her second WTA title over Katarina Srebotnik in Palermo. In that season as well, she reached the fourth round at the 2003 US Open and also reached the quarterfinals at Doha, Sopot and Shanghai. She beat defending champion Magdalena Maleeva, in Moscow.

At the 2004 Australian Open, Dinara Safina upset Amanda Coetzer of South Africa before losing to Kim Clijsters of Belgium. For the first time, Dinara finished the year in the Top 50, and reached third career final at Luxembourg where she lost against Alicia Molik.

Dinara Safina won her biggest career singles title at an indoor event in Paris, beating Amelie Mauresmo.

Partnering with Elena Dementieva, she won the decisive doubles rubber in the Fed cup final in 2005. She stunned World No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the QF of the 2005 Kremlin Cup, winning 1–6, 6–4, 7–5.

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In 2006, Dinara Safina reached the tier I Rome final by defeating top 10 players Kim Clijsters, Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova beaten only by resurgent Martina Hingis 6–2, 7–5.

At the 2006 French Open, Safina made the quarterfinals for the first time in her career. In the fourth round, she beat number four seed Maria Sharapova 7–5, 2–6, 7–5. In the third set, she trailed 1–5 but managed to pull off the upset after almost 21/2 hours of play.

To kick off the grass season, following her strong performance on clay, she reached her first grass court final at the Ordina Open, losing to Michaella Krajicek 6–3, 6–4.

During the 2006 US Open, she again reached a grand slam quarterfinal, this time losing soundly to Amelie Mauresmo. She met with larger success in doubles, where she reached the final with partner Katarina Srebotnik.

Dinara Safina reached two finals, two semifinals, and nine quarterfinals in 2006.

2007

Dinara Safina won her debut tournament in 2007, in Gold Coast, Australia, defeating Shahar Peer 4–6, 7–6(1), 6–1 in the semifinal and Martina Hingis 6–3 3–6 7–5 in the final. Following the 5–0 start to the year, she lost her sixth match of the year to Nicole Pratt 4–6, 6–3, 6–2 in the Sydney tournament. Safina would then finish her Australian season at the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Li Na 6–2 6–2.

Safina reached the quarterfinals at her next two tournaments in Paris and Antwerp, losing to the eventual champions at both Nadia Petrova in Paris and Amιlie Mauresmo in Antwerp.

Dinara Safina lost in the third round of her first Tier I event of the year in Indian Wells to Marion Bartoli 6–4, 6–3, and lost in the fourth round at the next Tier I event in Miami to Petrova again 3–6, 6–2, 6–4.

Safina reached her fourth quarterfinal of the year at her first clay event in Amelia Island, Florida, losing to Petrova for the third time in 2007. And at her third Tier I event in Charleston, South Carolina, she would reach her second final of the year, with retirements by Tatiana Golovin and Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinal and semifinal, losing to Jelena Jankovic 6–2, 6–2. Safina's consistent results on clay continued in Berlin and Rome, reaching the quarterfinals at both events. At the French Open, she lost to Serena Williams 6–2, 6–3 in the fourth round.

Dinara Safina lost a three-set thriller to Janković in the semifinal of the Ordina Open in s-'Hertogenbosch 6–3, 3–6, 7–6(6), having had a match point in the tiebreaker. Following that loss, she was upset by Akiko Morigami in the second round of Wimbledon and lost in the second round of both the Acura Classic and East West Bank Classic, to Sania Mirza and Kateryna Bondarenko respectively.

Safina won the women's double title at the 2007 U.S. Open with her partner Nathalie Dechy 6–4, 6–2. Dechy was the defending champion who had beat Safina in the previous final to win the 2006 title.

2008

Dinara Safina travelled to the 2008 Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts tournament in Gold Coast, Australia, kicking off her season on the 2008 WTA Tour with her goal to defend her singles and doubles titles from last year. In the singles as third seed she lost in the quarterfinals to Shahar Peer but in the doubles she succeeded playing with Agnes Szavay. With a #3 seeding, they won the tournament after defeating Yuliana Fedak and Aiko Nakamura 6–3, 6–2 in the first round, Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina 6–3, 6–4 in the quarterfinals, top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6–3, 6–1 in the semifinals and second seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie 6–1, 6–2 in the final.

At the Qatar Telecom German Open, Dinara Safina beat German wildcard Julia Goerges 6–3, 6–4 in the first round and Estonian Kaia Kanepi 6–4, 6–3 in the second round. In the third round, she faced World No.1 and top seed Justine Henin. Despite holding a 0-5 head to head record with the Belgian, Safina managed to battle from being 5–7, 0–2 down to win the match 5–7, 6–3, 6–1. This victory was Safina's 2nd career victory over a reigning world No.1, and arguably her biggest victory of her career, considering her opponent and the surface. This also made Safina the last player ever to play against and beat Henin before she retired. She then went on to snap Serena Williams 17 match win streak in 3 sets, making her an on form favourite for the title. In the final, Dinara Safina defeated countrywoman Elena Dementieva 3–6, 6–2, 6–2 to win her first Tier I title.

In the fourth round of the French Open, Dinara Safina defeated compatriot and World No. 1 Maria Sharapova 6–7, 7–6, 6–2, saving a match point at 5–3 down in the second set, marking her second victory over a World No. 1 in less than two months. In the quarter-finals, Dinara stunningly battled back from the brink of defeat for a second straight match to earn a place in her first Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open, coming from 5–2 down in the second set to defeat Elena Dementieva 4–6, 7–6, 6–0. She entered her first grand slam final by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–3, 6–2 in a one-sided semi-final match at Roland Garros. In the final she was beaten 6–4, 6–3 by Ana Ivanovic from Serbia in a hard fought match.

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