Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:28
The Russian took over from Serena Williams at the top of the rankings last month despite never having won a grand slam event, and Williams made her feelings clear before the start of this week’s tournament when she told a press conference: “We all know who the real number one is.”
But while Williams failed to make it past the second round, Safina toppled Serena’s sister Venus in the semi-finals and breezed past Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-2 in the final.
It was Safina’s fourth final of the year and second in as many weeks after she lost to fellow Russian Kuznetsova in Stuttgart last weekend.
