Having lost her past three final appearances this season, world number one Dinara Safina this time played one of her best tennis and won the prestigious Italian Open title, her 10th career WTA title, beating compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova in two sets 6-3, 6-2.
It was simply a one-sided affair with Kuznetsova committing 30 unforced errors which Safina considered as free points on her end.
“I think that she gave me many free points, she was not at her
best today. But she’s not an easy opponent,
especially on clay-court. I think I played really good today,” Safina said after the match.
The win served as Safina’s revenge from last week’s Porsche Cup final loss to Kuznetsova. This also solidified the Russian’s stay at the top of women’s rankings.
It was by no means an easy route to the finals for Safina. She’s at the brink of defeat during the third round against China’s Jie Zheng and was down 6-4, 3-1 down at the quarterfinals against claycourt specialist Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The same thing happened at the thrilling three-set, three hour semifinal match against Venus Williams.
With these achievements in the past two weeks, Safina is definitely one of the major contenders for this month’s French Open, where she finished runner up to Serbian Ana Ivanovic last year. Earlier this year, the Russian reached her second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open.
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Check out Safina’s WTA Profile HERE.
