Outsports » Dinara Safina

Injuries bounce Nadal, Safina. Roddick upset.

Cyd Zeigler jr. — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:46:42 +0000

Has injury ever knocked two top-2 seeds from a Grand Slam tournament? I certainly can’t remember another instance. But that’s the case this year, with the 2-seeds from both the men’s and women’s sides bowing out mid-match. Rafael Nadal was headed for an early exit before he retired, down to Andy Murray in the third, 6-3, 7-6, 3-0. The big blow came when Safina, down 5-4 in the first set, retired due to back pain. She had looked good the first few games, but the pain caught up to her quickly.

Andy Roddick, who was yet again a popular pick for an upset win, again fell short of expectations being upset by 14-seed Marin Cilic, 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3.

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Bud Collins: U.S. Open draw is flawed

Cyd Zeigler jr. — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:42:45 +0000

Tennis commentator Bud Collins was on ESPN this morning thrashing the U.S. Open women’s draw. His beef: The Williams sisters should be the top two seeds in the tournament. As it stands, Serena is seeded No. 2 and Venus is seeded No. 3. Collins argues that the two best players in the world are clearly Serena and Venus, and they should be the top seeds whether Dinara Safina is the No. 1player in the world or not (she is). The U.S. Open followed the world rankings for the top 7 women’s players.

Is Bud right? Should the Williams sisters have been 1-2? They were the finalists at Wimbledon and Serena beat Safina in the Aussie Open finals. Safina has never won a Grand Slam title; Serena is the defending U.S. Open champion. Safina is the world No. 1 largely because she plays more tournaments (two more this year) than the Williamses.

I’ll tell you this much: I’d put my money on Serena or Venus before I put it on Safina.

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Top Four Ladies’ Seeds Make Semifinals

Rich Rodriguez — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:43:42 +0000

For the first time since 2006, the top four seeds in the ladies’ draw have made the semifinals at Wimbledon.

In the top half, top seed and World No. 1 Dinara Safina will battle 5-time defending champ Venus Williams after the Russian escaped a messy quarterfinal against unseeded German Sabine Lisicki. Dina hit 15 double faults and 38 unforced errors in her 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 win. We’re talking F-UGLY. On the other hand, it was smooth sailing for third seeded V who crushed tricky Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-2 hitting 5 aces and 29 winners against only 6 for her opponent.

In the bottom half, second seeded Serena Williams and fourth seeded Elena Dementieva will play a rematch of their Aussie Open semifinal slugfest which the American won on her way to a 10th major. Both ladies moved through with relative ease: ReRe dismantled rising Belarussian Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-3 while Lena swept by Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-2.

Now, while I picked 3 out of the 4 semifinalist correctly in my preview (though Dina got through instead of Caroline Wozniacki), I still see an all-Williams final this Saturday. But I wouldn’t be surprised if ReRe struggled with the play of Lena since she’s been playing really well and getting through under the radar.

But in the end, the sisters will compete in a second consecutive (and fourth overall) Wimby final!

Rich Rodriguez writes the tennis blog Down the Line!

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Quick hits: Safina, La Russa, Shaq, Sosa

Cyd Zeigler jr. — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Categories: Coaches, MLB, NBA, Tennis, Women

Tags: Dinara Safina, Sammy Sosa, Shaquille O'Neal, Tony La Russa, Twitter

World No. 1 Dinara Safina will play Svetlana Kuznetsova in the French Open final. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is suing Twitter over a fake page using his name that he claims damaged his reputation. Meanwhile on Twitter, Shaquille O’Neal says that he wants Kobe Bryant to win his fourth NBA Championship…which is really [...]

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Quick hits: KKK, Celtics, Safina, Penguins

Cyd Zeigler jr. — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:45:36 +0000

Categories: Baseball, NBA, NHL, Tennis

Tags: Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Dinara Safina, Glen Davis, NBA, Pittsburgh Penguins

Celtics win on a last-second shot from Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis (right). Yes, you read that right. NBA admits referee mistake that lead to Nuggets win over Mavericks. Do these league announcements help or hurt? After Serena Williams’ announcement that she is the No. 1 player in the world, the actual No. 1, Dinara Safina, [...]

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Serena: ‘No, I’m the No. 1′

Cyd Zeigler jr. — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:21:13 +0000

Serena Williams told the media that, despite being passed by Russia’s Dinara Safina, she’s still the best player in the world. “We all know who the real No. 1 is,” Serena Williams said at a press conference. “Quite frankly, I’m the best in the world.” I’m a big fan of the Williams sisters because I admire their dominance on the court (when they play). But this is a little classless: You just don’t steal someone’s thunder like that off the court, you take care of business on the court and get the No. 1 ranking back. She’d better win the Italian Open now!

Now, of course, Serena’s right. She is the best player in the world. Her ranking suffers because she plays so few tournaments. But still, she needs to let people like me say that and leave her talking for the court.

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