Dinara Safina

Dinara Mikhailovna Safina (Russian: Динара Михайловна Сафина), born April 27, 1986 in Moscow, is a Russian professional tennis player of Tatar origin. Safina's career high ranking is World No. 1.

Safina was runner up in singles at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and the 2009 French Open, falling to Ana Ivanović, Serena Williams, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, respectively. She has had success at Grand Slam events in women's doubles by winning the 2007 US Open with Nathalie Dechy. She also won the Olympic silver medal in women's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

She is the younger sister of former World No. 1 men's player Marat Safin. She and her brother are the first brother-sister tandem in tennis history to both achieve No.1 rankings. 

Safina started 2008 poorly, winning just 11 of her first 21 matches. Her best result in singles play during this period was a run to the quarterfinals of Miami, defeating Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round. Safina has admitted that she was considering quitting tennis during this period. Meanwhile, she won doubles titles in Gold Coast, partnering Ágnes Szávay; and in Indian Wells, partnering Elena Vesnina.

Safina started 2010 by losing in the quarterfinals to Elena Dementieva in Sydney. At the Australian Open, she reached the fourth round where she retired with a back injury which also forced her to withdraw from tournaments in Dubai, Indian Wells, and Miami.

Dinara Safina Look so Beautiful

At the 2011 Malaysian Open, Dinara was able to end her 6-match losing streak with her first win since September 2010, defeating Han Xinyun 6–2, 6–0 and taking the last 11 games of the match. Then she lost against Safarova in singles, but she won her ninth career title in doubles, paired with Galina Voskoboeva. 

 

Safina next competed at BNP Paribas Open, and her improved form continued with a run to the fourth round, including wins over 26th seed Daniela Hantuchová, 7–6(2), 6–4 and world No. 4 Samantha Stosur, 7–6(2), 6–4. Her run came to an end against Maria Sharapova in the fourth round, where she won only two games. Safina returned to the top 100 for her performance at the tournament.