Loading ...australian open Tennis female NO.2 Dinara Safina
| Country |  Russia |
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| Residence | Monte Carlo, Monaco; Moscow, Russia | |
| Date of birth | April 27, 1986 | |
| Place of birth | Moscow, Soviet Union now Russia |
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| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | |
| Weight | 70 kg (150 lb/11 st) | |
| Turned pro | 2001 | |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) | |
| Career prize money | US$5,431,001 | |
Dinara Mikhailovna Safina (Tatar: Динара Мөбин кызы Сафина; Dinara Möbin qızı Safina; Russian: Дина́ра Миха́йловна (Муби́новна) Са́фина), born April 27, 1986, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar ethnicity. As of November 3, 2008, she is ranked World No. 2 by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). She has won one Grand Slam title, the women’s doubles title at the 2007 US Open with Nathalie Dechy, and reached one Grand Slam singles final at the 2008 French Open. She also won the Olympic silver medal in women’s singles at the 2008 games in Beijing. She is the younger sister of former World No. 1 men’s player Marat Safin.
Tennis career
On July 29, 2002, she entered into the top 100. She also won her first WTA title in Sopot, beating Henrieta Nagyová 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 year as well, she reached the fourth round of 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, Safina upset Amanda Coetzer of South Africa before losing to Kim Clijsters of Belgium. For the first time, Safina finished the year in the Top 50, and reached her third career final at Luxembourg where she lost to Alicia Molik. She won the singles title at an indoor event in Paris, beating Amélie Mauresmo.
Partnering with Elena Dementieva, she won the doubles rubber in the Fed Cup final in 2005. She defeated World No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals of the 2005 Kremlin Cup 1–6, 6–4, 7–5. In 2006, 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 fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova 7–5, 2–6, 7–5. In the third set, she trailed 1–5 but won after almost 2+1⁄2 hours of play.
To kick off the grass court 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 to Amélie Mauresmo. She met with greater success in doubles, where she reached the final with partner Katarina Srebotnik. Safina reached two finals, two semifinals, and nine quarterfinals in 2006.
2007
Safina won her debut tournament in 2007, in Gold Coast, Australia, defeating Shahar Pe’er 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 Amélie Mauresmo in Antwerp. Shelost 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 Janković 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. Safina lost in three sets 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 US Open with Nathalie Dechy 6–4, 6–2. Dechy was the defending champion who had beat Safina in the 2006 US Open doubles final.
2008
Safina travelled to the Mondial Australian Women’s Hardcourts tournament in Gold Coast, Australia, kicking off her season on the 2008 WTA Tour defending her singles and doubles titles from 2007. In the singles as the third seed, she lost in the quarterfinals to Shahar Pe’er but in the doubles she succeeded playing with Ágnes Szávay. With a third seeding, they won the tournament after defeating top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the semifinals 6–3, 6–1 and second seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in the final.
