INDIAN WELLS, California—Two-time Grand Slam finalist Dinara Safina crashed out of the 2009 BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday night in Indian Wells, California.
Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat the top seed in three sets 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Safina started the match in a dominating form, only to lose momentum in the second set. She attempted to mount a comeback late in the third but could not recover.
Azarenka faced Safina three times previously in 2008, but had never managed to defeat Safina until Wednesday. When asked after the match about what happened different, Safina blamed it on her lack of aggression.
“The other times I’ve been aggressive and I never let her into the match,” Safina said.
Azarenka, the eighth seed, headed into the match with the best win-loss record on the Tour for 2009, a lead that now extends to 17-1. Her only loss in 2009 occurred in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Serena Williams.
She will play Vera Zvonareva, the Beijing Olympic bronze medalist, in the semifinals. Incidentally, Zvonareva is also her doubles partner. They are scheduled to play Flavia Pennetta and Maria Kirilenko on Thursday.
“We’re going to have to play together, and hopefully we’ll win,” Azarenka said. “Next match is going to be good between us, too.”
On the Baseline’s live coverage of the 2009 BNP Paribas Open is brought to you by Grand Slam Tennis Tours.
I am not surprised at this turn of events. First of all, kudos to Azarenka. She hung in there and proved she is ready to play with the top women. But Safina had trouble with serves and hitting the ball out, in this round and the others. She just never seemed able to raise her game. It doesn’t seem anyone wants to be no 1 except Serena. To make things interesting I would just like to see someone challenge the Williams’ sisters. There’s always Miami I guess.
Wow, that’s too bad…she was favored to win this one. She’ll have a tougher time in Miami with the Williams sisters being well rested and ready to win. Safina will really have to step up her game to get passed them.
What you think? Serena and Venus just lying around waiting for Miami. They have a life outside of Indian Wells. And what I have seen so far, FSN do too.(high school basketball championships instead of tennis at Indian Wells). And there are plenty of players to challenge Serena and Venus. Ana, Maria (who has pulled out of Miami) Sveltana, Jelena, Victoria, Dinara, Elena. What you think?
Serena has won the Sony Ericsson Open 5 times – 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008. I would say this gives her the edge over most other players. Having the extra time off doesn’t hurt either. She beat Jelena Jankovic last year. But, given the final four at the BNP Paribas Open, it could be a 17-year old Russian that takes home the trophy at both tournaments!