Dinara Safina is a
Russian professional tennis player of Tatar
ethnicity. She is the
younger sister of tennis player, former world number
one Marat Safin. She is coached by Glen Schaap,
former trainer of Nadia Petrova. Her mother, Rauza
Islanova used to be her trainer when she was younger
but still gives advice to Dinara. Dinara Safina's
father is director of the Spartak tennis club in
Moscow. She has won one Grand Slam title, the
women's double title at the 2007 U.S. Open with her
partner Nathalie Dechy.
On July 29, 2002, she entered into the top 100. She
also won her first WTA title in Sopot, beating
Nagyova 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, she defeated a top 20 player (Silvia Farina
Elia) who was seeded 14, for the first time in
Moscow, at the age of 16.
On July 14, 2003, she broke into the top 50. She won
her second WTA title over Katarina Srebotnik in
Palermo. In that season as well, she reached fourth
round at 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, Dinara
finished the year in the Top 50, and reached third
career final at Luxembourg where she lost against
Alicia Molik.
Dinara Safina won her biggest career singles title
at Paris [Indoors],beating Amelie Mauresmo.
Partnering Elena Dementieva, she won the decisive
doubles rubber in the Fed cup final in 2005. She
stunned World No. 1 Maria Sharapova in the QF of the
2005 Kremlin Cup, winning 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 number four seed Maria
Sharapova 7-5, 2-6, 7-5. In the third set, she
trailed 1-5 but managed to pull the upset after
almost 21/2 hours of play.
To kick off the grass 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 soundly to
Amelie Mauresmo. She met larger success in doubles,
where she reached the final with partner Katarina
Srebotnik.
Safina reached two finals, two semifinals, and nine
quarterfinals in 2006.
