GOLD COAST, Australia - One of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's most promising young stars, Dinara Safina, punctuated her return to the Top 10 on Saturday by capturing the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts title, defeating Martina Hingis in the final, 63 36 75.
The final was somewhat of a streaky affair between one of the biggest hitters in the game and one of the craftiest. The No.2-seeded Safina was in command for the opening set, gaining the lone break in the sixth game and holding on to take the one set lead. The No.1-seeded Hingis drew even by reeling off the first and last three games of the second set; the tournament's top seeds were headed to a deciding third set.
Much of the third set was a microcosm of the first two; Safina broke to go ahead 4-2, then Hingis rallied back to even things up to 4-4. They held serve the next three games, and it was then that the Russian came through with a break to close out the two-hour, 10-minute win, her first in three meetings with the Swiss.
"It was a great match," Safina said afterwards. "When I arrived here last week and saw the draw I couldn't imagine this would've happened. I had some nerves in my warm-up and I just tried to use those nerves to keep concentrating.
"You learn from every loss; I'd lost to her twice and so I knew what I had to do to beat her, and today I was able to actually do it!"
"It was a good match," Hingis stated. "I knew in the second set if I wasn't more aggressive, she would've blown me away in two sets. I played better in the third set and had chances when she served 5-5; I had two break points and she served well. I also had opportunities early in the third. She's amazing, fighting so hard for every point.
"Dinara has an amazing future, and will be even better than Marat; Dinara has to work harder and doesn't have as much touch, but she fights so hard."
It is Safina's fifth Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title, having claimed trophies at Sopot in 2002, Palermo in 2003, and at Paris [Indoors] and Prague in 2005.
Safina and Hingis had contrasting paths to the final. Hingis barely broke a sweat, dropping just 11 games, and spending just under three-and-a-half hours on court; Safina had a much more laborous road, losing 34 games and spending nearly seven hours on court. The Russian's biggest scare came in the semifinals, coming back from a 64 51 deficit to defeat No.5 seed Shahar Peer, 46 76(1) 61.
"I kept waking up in the night and thinking 'Am I alive or am I dead?'" lamented Safina on the sensational semifinal victory. "Then when I woke up this morning I felt very good. When I was hitting with my coach today, he thought I was playing so well he wanted to know what I had for breakfast!"
For Safina, the win is made even sweeter given the fact she will rise from No.11 to No.10 on Monday's new rankings. After reaching the quarterfinals or better at 13 events in last year's regular season, the Russian cracked the Top 10 in early October, only to fall back to No.11 after a string of tournament withdrawals due to medical fatigue syndrome. The off-season gave her recuperating time and she's now got a winning start to 2007.
"I worked really hard for the past two months and this tournament shows that all the hard work paid off, so I'm proud of that," Safina added.
Safina also completed a rare double, claiming the doubles crown with Katarina Srebotnik. The No.2-seeded pair downed surprise unseeded finalists Iveta Benesova and Galina Voskoboeva, 63 64, shortly after the singles final.
"It was fantastic to win here the first week of the year," Srebotnik said. "I loved playing with Dinara, she's certainly playing well this week and deserves all the success. I hope she continues this high quality except when she's playing me!"
It was Safina's fifth Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles title and Srebotnik's 14th.
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