5/12/2008

Week #19: Fantastic Safina wins in Berlin

Third all-Russian final of the season and first Tier I title for Dinara Safina, who came back from a set down in the final against Elena Dementieva. Safina enjoyed a fantastic week and showed an improved mentality to came back from a set down and defeat world's #1 Justine Henin and former #1 Serena Williams on her way to the final. Also a good result for runner-up Dementieva, who upsetted seed #2 Ana Ivanovic and #4 Jelena Jankovic on her way to the final, and for youngster Victoria Azarenka, who progressed to the semifinal in her best result in a big tournament.
On the other side top players such as Anna Chakvetadze, Nicole Vaidisova, Shahar Peer and Patty Schnyder continued with their dissapointing season and lost in their first matches. Also dissapointing performance for Justine Henin, who couldn't get her best game back despite playing on red clay and lost on the Last 16 round to the eventual champion Safina.

Berlin (GER), Tier I, $1,340,000

Final: Dinara Safina (RUS) def Elena Dementieva (RUS) 3/6 6/2 6/2

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