Dinara Safina, of Russia, had a solid chance to defeat Serena Williams of the United States during their semifinal match at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, but she blew off all chances for victory.
Photo: AP
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Russians Didn’t Reach the Rackets
Russia’s Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva lost their chances to top the WTA rating when they yielded to Serena Williams and Elena Jankovic in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. It was Williams that won her third U.S. Open title Sunday, while the winner of the men’s section is yet to fight his way to the victory. Swiss Roger Federer and Britain’s Andy Murray will clash for it today.
The situation in the WTA rating was that any of four semifinal players would de-crown Ana Ivanovic; but the potential number one had to triumph at the U.S. Open for it. Exactly the battle for the first rating was the additional intrigue in the matches of Elena Dementieva and Elena Ivanovic and Dinara Safina and Serena Williams. But both our girls missed their chances.
Elena Dementieva, for instance, was the leader of both sets vs. Ivanovic. Elena was ahead 4-2 when she lost four games in a row. Dementieva broke in the second set, but failed to seal the dominance, while the Serb managed to come up with the decisive break in the tenth game to emerge as the debutant of the Grand Slam final.
Her opponent there was Serena Williams of the United States, who had seen off Dinara Safina en route, the better start of the Russian notwithstanding. After the match, Safina acknowledged that she herself had spoilt everything by failing to control the emotions.
Serena Williams is the U.S. Open champ today. She won her third U.S. Open title along with the world number one ranking. As to the men’s section, the winner is yet to be determined here. Britain's Andy Murray stole the show by prevailing over world number one Rafael Nadal and advancing to his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open. Murray plays four-time defending champion Roger Federer Monday.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 08, 2008
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