Five months and one day since they met in the final of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, second seed Dinara Safina will play third seed Elena Dementieva in the championship round of the Medibank International on Friday.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, which dates back to 1885, the women’s final will be an all-Russian affair.
This will be the tenth meeting between the two Russians and it’s Safina who holds a very slim 5-4 advantage.
“I’m just very excited being in the final here for the first time,” said Elena. “It’s going to be my second final of the year, so it’s great. I realize how tough it’s going to be to play Dinara. She’s in great shape right now, but it’s going to be a great experience anyway.”
Safina is coming off a bit of a confidence boost having reached the final of the Hopman Cup last week with her brother Marat Safin and she says it’s going to be a “great challenge” to see where her game is situated.
“I still feel there is so much room inside of me that I can still play better,” said Safina. “I am not playing 100% and I have still reached the final so I think that’s pretty good.”
The women’s doubles final will also be on court Friday. Australia’s Casey Dellacqua is teaming up with France’s Nathalie Dechy to play Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and Peng Shuai of China.
Official live match streaming of the Medibank International is available at www.tennistv.com.
